LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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3ncor|Jorafeb Q^yrif 20, 1885 




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In Executive Committee— June 15th, 1885. 

Resolved^ That in order that the papers printed under authority of this Society 
may be of the highest character, and of value from all standpoints, the Society 
does not stand pledged as responsible for the opinions expressed or conclusions 
arrived at in the said papers, but considers itself only responsible in so far as it 
certifies by its Imprimatur that it considers them as original contributions to 
Shakespearean study, and as showing upon their face, care, labor and research. 




VENVS 

AND ADONIS 

Vilk miretu r ^mlgm ; mihiflauu^ (^pllo 
^ocuU Cajlaliapkm mimftretaqua. 




LONDON 

Imprinted by Richard Fields and are to be fold at 
thefigne ofthe white Greyhound in 
^ PaulesChurch-yard* 

1553- 



Ipubacations of CTbe Sbafteepearc Soclctg of IRew l^orft 

mo. to 



A STUDY 

IN 

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT 



WITH A GLOSSARY 

AND 

Notes touching the Edward the Sixth Grammar 
Schools and the Elizabethan Pronuncia- 
tion AS Deduced from the Puns in 
Shakespeare's Plays 



/ BY 

APPLETON MORGAN, LL. B. {Columbm) 

President of the Shakespeare Society of New York; Author of 

'^'The Law of Literature,^' ''Shakespeare in Fact and 

in Criticism "; Editor of the Bankside 

Shakespeare, etc. 

THE THIRD EDITION 



NEW YORK 

THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS 

Printers to the Shakespeare Society of New York 



LONDON : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd. 
paternoster house, charing cross road 

1899 

I. 



e\^l> 






Copyright, 1899, 

BY 

APPLETON MORGAN, 
All rights reserved. 



MAY 19 1899 | 



t^ iv^ r^ /^ 



e' 



A PREFACE TO THE THIRD 
EDITION. 



Is there any possible room for a doubt as to 
Shakespeare's authorship of the poems so univer- 
sally conceded to be his? 

The earliest collected edition of his works did 
not include them. But this may have been because 
of their non-dramatic character. 

Late in 1616 (the year in which Shakespeare died, 
April 23), one of these poems, the *'Lucrece," was 
printed in the usual quarto form with many varia- 
tions from the text of May 9, 1594, with a state- 
ment on the title-page that it was *' newly revised 
and corrected." As Shakespeare was dead, some- 
body still alive, it would seem, felt a supervisory 
interest in the poems, or at least in one of them. 

There certainly appears to be internal evidence 
enough that the poems are all by the same author; 
at least, the inclusion of one by Heywood — which 
was removed from that collection on his protest — 
and of the one by Marlowe (which is still printed in 
the series known as " The Passionate Pilgrim ") do 
not interfere with that evidence. 

But, assuming that the <* Venus and Adonis " — the 
''Lucrece," and the '' Sonnets "—are by the same 
author-poet, was that author-poet Shakespeare? 



IV A PREFACE I'D THE THIRD EDITIOlSt. 

Hallam, in his '* Literature of Europe," expresses a 
doubt as to whether the '^ Sonnets" now known as 
Shakespeare's were ''the sugared sonnets among 
his [Shakespeare's] private friends," which Meres 
mentions as undoubtedly authentic. The following- 
pages are devoted to an examination of a question 
as to Shakespeare's authorship of the first to appear 
of the poems — the ''Venus and Adonis," only. 
Whether that examination shall or need be extended 
to the " Lucrece," the " Passionate Pilgrim," the 
"Threnos," and the "sonnets," is for further con- 
sideration. 

Some, possibly only apparent, difficulties — not 
structural or literary — of a Shakespearean author- 
ship of the "Venus and Adonis," are as follows: 

I. Throughout the poem there appears to run 
the same stream of argument (as close readers of 
the Sonnets claim to have discovered), viz. : the 
urging of some young man (preferentially South- 
ampton) to marry and beget offspring, and not to 
die " unkind." 

How came it that a rustic youth lately from War- 
wickshire, an interior county, at that time servitor 
in a theater, or farmer of the horse-holding business 
at its doors — or its clever and competent re-writer 
of plays (or even writer of new plays) — became so 
deeply and suddenly interested in the posterity of 
a noble lord — or of any London gentleman? 

There was a wider gulf, if possible, then than 
now fixed between peer and peasant. Would not 
such an interference, except in a social equal as 
well as an intimate, have been the sheerest im- 
pertinence? 



A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. V 

II. The title-page to the first edition of the poem 
bore a legend from Ovid : 

Vilia miretur valgus : mihi flavus Apollo 
Pocula castalia plena ministret aqua — 

Either as referring to its subject-matter, or as to 
its significance as a legend, this is utterly mean- 
ingless as a legend for the poem. It certainly has 
no connection with Venus or with Adonis, or with 
the boar, or with the begetting of offspring. Ovid, 
in this eclogue (which had not been translated, by 
the way, in 1596), is defending himself against the 
charge of being 2, flaneur and an idler. He admits 
that he does not work as others may. But he 
enumerates by name the greatest poets, in his esti- 
mation, and then exclaims, ''with these I take my 
part. Their labors and rewards are the only objects 
of my ambition. Their life is the only life I care to 
lead," and then the above lines come in: 

*' The vulgar let the vulgar herd admire : 
To me may the golden-haired Apollo serve cups 
Brimming from Castaly." 

But William Shakespeare was an industrious, hard- 
toiling young man, not in poetry, but in and about 
Burbage's theater. He was willing to accept any 
employment, and as the records abundantly show, 
became rich at many trades and occupations. In- 
deed, so multifarious were his employments that 
one of his rivals called him a Johannes-Factotum. 
Surely he had to make no apology for being a fla- 
neur and an idler! 

IIL The poem is, in theme and suggestion, the 



VI A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

evident work of a sensualist, or, at least, of a 
voluptuary, as well as of a Priscian — severe and 
classic in literary taste and in the mold, cadence, 
and prosody. Every fair and frail dame in London, 
we are assured, kept the poem on her toilet table. 
But William Shakespeare was no sensualist, and 
certainly no voluptuary, in the year 1593. His 
record is exactly the other way. He had married a 
peasant girl early in life and, being unable to sup- 
port her and their children, had come to London to 
find work and had found it. Neither in Warwick- 
shire nor London had his attention been drawn 
toward, or his means equal to, the career of a 
Sybarite or of a man about town. 

IV. Ben Jonson, in a familiar passage in his ^' Dis- 
coveries," declared that Shakespeare *' wanted art "! 
Would he have volunteered such an assertion if 
Shakespeare had been the author of the poems and 
** Sonnets "? of the *' Venus and Adonis," so calmly 
classic, so severely formal that even Voltaire — who 
called Shakespeare an '' inspired barbarian " — would 
have admitted it into the school? 

Surely the '' Venus and Adonis " as little suggests 
the irregular genius of the plays as it resembles the 
patois of Warwickshire. 

Was this what Jonson meant when he said that 
Shakespeare ** wanted art": that he talked with 
that fluency that it was often necessary that 
he should be stopped (sicfflammafidus erat, as Au- 
gustus said of Haterius): namely, that Shakes- 
peare could not content himself with such "Atto^ 
Xeyo/nem as " purple-colored," to describe the sun at 
dawn rising through morning mist, but must break 



A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. VU 

out, perforce, into such metaphor on the wings of 
metaphor as: 

When the morning sun shall raise his car 
Above the border of this horizon — 

or say plain " sunset," but make it: 

The sun of heaven, methought, w^as loath to set 
But stayed to make the Western v^relkin blush. 

Was this that lack of "art," and of artificiality, that 
must overleap itself to capture other every meta- 
phor which metaphor suggested — the dainty defiance 
of rule that could not rest with calling a lady "rose- 
red " or " rose-cheeked " as in the poems, but must 
have it: 

There is a beauteous lady. . . 

When tongues speak svreetly then they name her name 

And Rosa — line they call her ? 

"Dew-bedabbled," says the poem. But in the 
plays, no "ATTttl X€yo)u,€m of a compound will suffice: 

That same dew, which, sometimes, on the buds, 
Was wont to dwell like round and orient pearls. 

"Outstripping" or "overfly" is the severe de- 
scriptive of the poem— but in the play: 

When you do dance 
I wish you were a wave of the sea that you might ever do 
Nothing but that. 

Surely the gentleman who will occupy his leisure 
in tabulating the nice and precise formalities of the 
poems over against the opulence of their identities 
in the plays, will go far in the way of disposing of 



Vlll A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

Voltaire's '* inspired barbarian " as the poet of the 
*' Venus and Adonis." 

Such considerations as these led me, fourteen 
years ago, in 1885, to present the first edition of 
this work, being an attempt to discover a common 
or *' parallelism" between the poems and the plays. 
I attempted this by means of the Warwickshire dia- 
lect, from the influence of which — however modified 
by an Edward the Sixth grammar school known to 
have been in existence in the town of Stratford- 
upon-Avon — Shakespeare had recently arrived at 
the capital, when, April 19, 1593, the poem was reg- 
istered on the books of the Stationers' Company. 
And, in the course of the survey, I attempted a 
Glossary of the Warwickshire dialect, which, with 
considerable excision and augmentation, is also in- 
cluded in the present edition. 

My purpose in these pages is, however, to pre- 
sent the reader with something more than a Glos- 
sary. I have aimed, by grouping the Warwickshire 
forms around their vernaculars, to exhibit the War- 
wickshire methods, modes, habits (so to speak), as 
well as its corruptions — often picturesque corrup- 
tions — of vernacular English, and I have subordi- 
nated my method to my chief purpose, namely, to 
illustrate Shakespeare. I have been myself sur- 
prised to find how the luxury of Shakespearean 
study even was increased by study of these War- 
wickshire forms, and I am sure anyone who will 
test for himself the demonstrations in these pages 
will be startled to see how new ideas of the Mas- 
ter (and new readings of him, too) will suggest 



A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. IX 

themselves as he proceeds. In such examination, 
my purpose has been to be fair and honest, and to 
avoid the temptation of producing a tour de force, or 
that most delicious of all literary things — a paradox. 

But I must admit to have only found two words 
in the poem which I could even with effort succeed 
in tracing to Warwickshire — one, the word ''tem- 
pest," which, in Warwickshire usage, means ''a 
rainstorm," and the other the word *'cop," spelled 
cope in the poem and in the plays (from which, 
meaning to catch, I suppose our metropolitan 
gamin get their name for a policeman). In the 
plays, however, the word "tempest" does not ap- 
pear to be used in the Warwickshire sense — though 
"cope" appears in them as well as in the poem. 
But, as the reader will see, there is no absolute cer- 
tainty about the matter. 

After fifty years of Shakespearean study and re- 
search, my friend, the late Dr. Halliwell-Phillipps, 
was only able to say that those who had lived as long 
as he in the midst of matters Shakespearean had 
learned not to be too certain about anything. 

In my own twenty years' immersion in the same 
pursuit, I can only echo this dictum. My own 
idea of a Shakespearean "school" is one wherein 
every man is his own pupil-teacher, and wherein, 
only as he enters into or keeps out of the pretty 
quarrels of the commentators (always like Sir 
Lucius O'Trigger's — very pretty as they stand, and 
only spoiled by explanation) — precisely as the hu- 
mor takes him, and as he himself sees fit — will he 
find either pleasure or profit, or enjoy himself in 
the least. 



X A PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

If anyone ever yet made a statement about 
Shakespeare, or about all or any of his works, 
which somebody did not immediately rise to con- 
tradict, I have yet to hear of it. 

And I suppose that even if somebody should some 
day suggest that Lord Southampton himself wrote 
all those poems and dedicated them to himself, 
somebody else would cavil! 

Appleton Morgan. 

Rooms of the Shakespeare Society of New York, 
October 2, 1898. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

PART I. 
The Environment i 

PART II. 

A Glossary of the Warwickshire Dialect . . 63 

PART III. 
How Shakespeare Heard His English Pronounced 

IN London 405 

Index 435 



xl 



A STUDY IN THE WARWICKSHIRE 
DIALECT. 

PART I. 
THE ENVIRONMENT. 

Circumstantial evidence — the evidence of cir- 
cumstances — ma)^ be explained away by the testi- 
mony of other circumstances. Internal evidence 
may be upset by context. But words are detectives 
that never fail to detect, and whose reports cannot 
be bribed, distorted, or gainsaid. No man can write 
in a language he has never heard, or whose written 
form he has never learned. 

It would not have been strange or impossible that, 
in the numberless editions through which the Shakes- 
peare plays passed (without the slightest editorial 
responsibility), in Shakespeare's own lifetime as well 
as in their copying and recopying in lines and 
parts, for those who acted in them during their 
stage life, their text was curtailed by passages lost 
or distorted, or augmented by interpolations or lo- 
calisms of actors or interpolations of reporters. 
But the poems are before us to-day practically as 
they were first printed. There has been no rear- 
rangement of verses or of stanzas, and, whether we 
read them in the last sixpenny edition or in the best 



2 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

and most scholarly texts, or in the original quarto 
broadsides of Shakespeare's own day, the text is 
identical. 

In London, in the year 1593, there appeared un- 
heralded, from the press of Richard Field, one of 
Her Majesty's Stationers' Company, a poem in thin 
quarto, with the title ** Venus and Adonis." It 
was exposed for sale at the sign of the Greyhound 
in St. Paul's Churchyard. It was rapidly sold and 
eagerly read by the ladies and gentlemen of the 
court, and made a certain literary sensation. It 
became, in a sense, the fashion. 

Nothing like it had been seen before. The coarse 
and libidinous broadside was familiar enough. For 
the general it appeared couched in vulgar puns — 
or in what was just then more popular than puns — 
in euphuism and double-e?itendre. 

But this poem, at once stately and sumptuous, 
voluptuous and eloquent, despotic in the classic of 
its prosody and the cadence of its verse, was new 
matter. Nothing like it had ever appeared before. 
Its authorship as William Shakespeare's appears to 
have been accepted — and the appearance of other 
poems and sonnets by the same author tended to 
confirm the statement, which certainly there was 
then no reason whatever to doubt. 

But, later on, this same William Shakespeare be- 
came known as a mighty dramatist. The fame of 
his work crowded theaters, and kept the presses of 
Her Majesty's Stationers in employment outside 
of them. 

Still, there was external evidence that the poet 
was also the dramatist. When Falstaff and his 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 3 

irregular humorists took the town by storm, and 
in the flood of that first success, everything that 
could bear Shakespeare's name was rushed into 
print, who was there to remember the "Venus and 
Adonis " and the poems? They remembered that 
the same name was on the title-pages. That was 
all. 

But did anybody ask for any internal evidence? 
Nobody then, for the comparative criticism of 
literary matter was not, in those days, thought of. 
But to-day, it has been suggested that between the 
poems and the plays there is no accord of internal 
evidence. Nothing which, in the absence of title- 
pages, would pronounce them as by one and the 
same master. Except the superiority of each, in 
its own kind, nothing to bind them together. 

The question is a bold one to raise to-day, three 
centuries too late. But some, nevertheless, have 
asked it. And it is the scope and purpose of these 
pages, with a deference born of that awe which en- 
circles the Master, but in the surety that all honest 
inquiry must lead to knowledge, to prepare for its 
discussion. It is proposed to treat the question 
principally in the light of the fact that, prior to the 
appearance of the poem — which itself preceded the 
plays — William Shakespeare had been, up to his 
eighteenth year, a resident of Stratford-upon-Avon, 
a Warwickshire village, where were spoken a 
dialect and a patois quite as distinguishable from 
other British dialects as from the urban English — 
mellowed with the many foreign contributary 
formatives which the commercial character of 
Elizabeth's London brought, as it were, into 



4 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

entrepSt — in that city, in the years, 1585-16 16. 
For this Warwickshire-born boy to have achieved 
the plays was one thing — was, let us admit, of all 
the miracles of genius, the most miraculous Heaven 
has vouchsafed mankind. To have written the 
poem, however inferior to the plays, genius itself 
would have been inadequate without the absorption 
of certain arbitrary rules of composition and the 
learning by rote (or so at least it seems to me) of 
the existence of certain arbitrary trammels and 
limitations of diction, vocabulary, and of prosody. 

Everybody remembers the expressive dialect 
spoken by Mrs. Poyser in George Eliot's "Adam 
Bede." George Eliot lays the story of her novel in 
" Loamshire," which, it appears, is intended to be 
recognized as Leicestershire. But "it must not be 
inferred," says Dr. Sebastian Evans, of the English 
Dialect Society, "that Mrs. Poyser and the rest of 
the characters introduced into 'Adam Bede ' speak 
pure Leicestershire. They speak pure Warwick- 
shire; and although the two dialects naturally ap- 
proximate very closely, they are far from being 
identical in pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. 
The truth is that George Eliot was herself War- 
wickshire-born, and used the dialect in the midst 
of which she been reared, for her Leicestershire 
characters; which was not much of a solecism, 
seeing that the two had so many points of contact." 
But if the English George Eliot heard in her 
village, among her neighbors in her youth, was 
Warwickshire, it could not have been a much purer 
speech that her young fellow-shireman, William 



THE ENVIROXMENT, 5 

Shakespeare, heard in his day — almost three cen- 
turies earlier. But we know where and when 
George Eliot went to school, and how, relieved from 
Warwickshireisms herself, she realized their humor 
and their individuality, and so bestowed them upon 
Mrs. Poyser. There was not much of an Academy, 
not much of a cult, in Stratford town, to purify the 
burgher's patois in Shakespearean times. Nay, 
even up at the capital — in London — it was very 
little, if any, better than down in Warwickshire. 
The members of Elizabeth's Parliament could not 
comprehend each others' speech. This was long 
before there was any standing army in England. 
(Falstaff might have been marching through Coventry 
with his pressed men at about that time.) But when 
the soldiers Elizabeth summoned were grouped in 
camps, they could not understand the word of com- 
mand unless given by officers from their own par- 
ticular shire. And — with Stratford grammar school, 
or any other grammar school, in full blast — the 
youngsters were not taught English, rigorously as 
they might be drilled in Lily's " Accidence," and in 
the three or four text-books prescribed by the crown. 
Dr. HalliwelUPhillipps and Mr. Furnivall have each 
prepared lists of these text-books. But, amongst 
them all, there is not one that suggests instruction 
in the mother tongue. That the aforesaid young- 
sters were supposed to learn at home, if they 
learned it at all. And at home, as well as in this 
grammar school (now held sponsor for so much of 
the occult and elaborate introspection and learning 
of the plays), it is absolutely impossible that the lad 
Shakespeare acquired or used any other dialect than 



6 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

the Warwickshire he was born to, or that his father 
and mother, their coetaneans, neighbors and 
gossips, spoke. For demonstration of this state- 
ment the credulous need not rely on the so-called 
Shakespearean epitaphs, and the lampoon on Sir 
Thomas Lucy with their puns on the names of John 
a'Coombe ("John has come ") and Lucy (" Lowsie") 
[which were doubtless written by that worthy lunatic 
John Jordan, who so amply fooled in his time 
the ponderous Malone, Boswell, Ireland, and their 
contemporaries], but are referred to any compe- 
tent chronicle of the times themselves. In fact, 
there is no converse to the proposition at all. It is 
as one-sided as a proposition in Euclid, So far, 
then, we are unable to supply the literary biography 
we had in Miss Evans's case, as to the scholastic 
career of William Shakespeare, baptized in Stratford 
Church, April 23, 1564. 

When William Shakespeare, at about eighteen, 
went up to London, he must have been, like Robert 
Burns, competent, even fluent, in the dialect of his 
own vicinage. We know that when, later in his 
life, Robert Burns tried to abandon the patois in 
v/hich he had earned immortality, and to warble in 
urban English, "he was seldom" (says his most 
careful biographer, Shairp) "more than a third- 
rate, a common, clever versifier." In considering 
the question whether William Shakespeare still con- 
tinued to use the Warwickshire dialect or lost it in 
London, we must make up our minds to leave his 
plays out of the question. For, in the first place, a 
play is a play. It is the representation of many 
characters in a juxtaposition where the identity of 



THE ENVIRONMENT, 7 

each must be exaggerated to preserve the perspec- 
tive, and to tell — within the hour — the story of days 
or years, as the case may be. And this perspective 
must be shaped by experiment, altered and amended 
by actual representation, made to fit the date, the 
circumstances, the player, and the audience, and, 
except to conclude from the direct testimony of 
contemporaries, or of an author himself, that this 
or that author wrote himself into any one character 
of any play, is, and always must be, purely and 
fancifully gratuitous. In the second place, the 
fact that the Shakespeare plays contain not only 
Warwickshire, but specimens of about every other 
known English dialect, and quite as much of any 
one as other, cannot be omitted from this Shakes- 
peare authorship problem. Now the condition in 
life implied by a man's employment of one patois 
would seem to dispose of the probability of his 
possessing either the facilities or the inclination for 
acquiring a dozen others. The philologist or 
archaeologist may employ or amuse himself in 
collecting specimens of dialects and provincialisms. 
The proletarian to whom any one of these dialects 
is native will probably be found not to have that 
idea of either bread-winning or of pastime. 

There are a great many strange things about these 
plays. They make a classical Duke of Athens men- 
tion St. Valentine's Day, and send a young girl to a 
nunnery — they have pages and king's fools figuring in 
Alcibiades' time. Pandarus speaks of Sunday and of 
Friday at the siege of Troy; there are marks, guild- 
ers, ducats, and allusions to Henry IV. of France, 
to Adam, Noah, and to Christians, in Ephesus in the 



8 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

time of Pericles; a child is ''baptized" in "Titus 
Andronicus" ; Mark Antony comes to " bury" Caesar. 
There are "Graves in the Holy Churchyard" 
in Coriolanus, there are billiards and "trumps" in 
Cleopatra's time and capital, and there are always 
French and Spaniards in plenty for the audienees 
which expected them, and plentiful use of terms of 
English law and practice, whether the play were 
in Cyprus or Epidamnum, or Rome or Athens: 
whether the days were ancient or contemporary. 
France and Spain were the countries with which 
England was oftenest at war, and which, therefore, 
it was most popular to disparage. The Frenchman 
and Spaniard were relied upon to make the ground- 
lings roar again, pretty much as, in New York to-day, 
we have a plantation negro or a Chinaman, as indis- 
pensable for certain audiences. But in these same 
plays, however a Roman or a Bohemian may use an 
English idiom, there is no confusion in the dialects 
when used as dialects., and not as vernacular. The 
Norfolk man does not talk Welsh, nor does the 
Welshman talk Norfolkshire, nor does the Welsh- 
man Sir Hugh Evans, who lives in Warwickshire, 
use "Welsh- Yorkshire, but Welsh-Warwickshire, 
patois, and " Fluellen " (which is of course pho- 
netic for " Llewellen" a typical Welsh name) 
speaks broken English as a Welshman would, with 
no trace of an English dialect of any sort. The 
dictionary-makers assure us that there are thou- 
sands upon thousands of dialect words in the plays, 
or, to be exact, thousands upon thousands of words 
not dialectic per se, but used in their local sense. 
Moreover, sometimes these words will be used 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 9 

in their local or dialect, and in their pure or 
vernacular, senses in the same play, or even in the 
same passages. Of this I shall give some ex- 
amples later on, but it seems proper to note here 
that at least once in the plays Shakespeare intro- 
duces a dialect, ^7/^^^/ dialect, in a locality where it 
does not belong, and so calls attention to it and to 
the contrast between it and the speech of the other 
characters present. The occasion referred to is, of 
course, where Edgar meets Oswald in the fields 
near Dover and disguises his speech by using the 
Somersetshire dialect.* 

Osw. Wherefore, bold peasant, 
Barest thou support a publish'd traitor? Hence; 
Lest that the infection of his fortune take 
Like hold on thee. Let go his arm. 

Edg. Chi'll not let go, zir, without vurther 
'casion. 

Osw. Let go, slave, or thou diest! 

Edg. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor 
volk pass. An ch'ud ha' bin zwaggered out of my 
life, 'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis by a vortnight. 
Nay, come not near th'old man; keep out, che vor, 
ye, or ise try whether your costard or my ballow be 
the harder: chill be plain with you. 

Osw. Out, dunghill! 

Edg. Chi'll pick you teeth, zir: come; no matter 
vor your foins. 

On another occasion he uses mere jargon: 

* " King Lear," IV. vi. 239. Q. 2438, F. 2648, Bankside 
notation. 



lO THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT, 

'■'■ Throca, movousus, cargo, cargo, cargo . . . 
villanda par, corbo, cargo . . . Boskos thromuldo 
Boskos. Boskos vauvado. Kerelybonso . . . manka 
revania dulche . . . Oscorbidulchos volivorco, 
accordo linta. . , Bosko chimurcho. Boblibindo 
chermurco," * 

which the soldiers invent, to confound Parolles, not 
only with proof of his own cowardice and treachery, 
but with his ignorance of the language in which he 
claimed proficiency. And the scrap of an Irish 
ballad which Pistol mutters in response to the 
French prisoner who believes that Pistol has cap- 
tured him on the field of Agincourt, is another of the 
numerous examples in the plays of Shakespeare's 
fondness for dialect forms. That what the early 
printer *'pied" into ''qualtite calme custure me" 
was really '*gae maith cas tu re me," Mr. O'Keefe's 
demonstration of the real meaning of this jargon f 
has convinced most of us. Pistol was a linguist. 
He breaks out into French, Latin, and Italian, 
and nobody knows why he could not have picked 
up a snatch of Irish! But these episodes prove 
that Shakespeare knew perfectly well what a 
dialect was, and that the dialect of one section of 
England was unintelligible to the native of another 
just as it is in fact to-day — (to such an extent 
that I am assured that one of the difficulties at first 
experienced in the use of our American invention 
of the telephone — and a very considerable one — 
arose from this source). 

* All's Well that Ends Well," IV. i. 71, iii. 141. 
t " Henry v.," IV. iv. 4. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. II 

All this is accounted for by our knowledge of Lon- 
don in the days when Shakespeare was writing the 
plays, its cosmopolitan character, and the motley 
crowds on its narrow streets. He did not need to 
take them — at least it is apparent that he did not 
take them — out of books already in print, as he did 
his plots and situations. His characters were all 
there, and he photographed them. But how, when 
he himself was a provincial, and came up from 
Stratford — when he himself was one of the motley 
throng in those same narrow streets? Our question 
does not arise as to the ^'Lucrece. " Whoever 
wrote the '* Venus and Adonis" could have written 
(and doubtless did write) that poem. Nor does it 
arise as to the'* Sonnets," if the ** Sonnets printed in 
1609 were the ' Sugred Sonnets among his private 
friends,' " of which Meres makes mention, which 
only appeared in 1609, seven years before Shakes- 
peare's death, (when he had become rich and — 
doubtless endowed with that culture which wealth 
can bring — may have used most unexceptionable 
urban, courtly, and correct English) — were those 
we have to-day. But, as to this, others than Mr. 
Hallam have doubted. 

But that poem, '* Venus and Adonis," which its 
dedication declares to have been the very "first 
heir of" the "invention" of William Shakespeare; 
surely, if written in Warwickshire and by a War- 
wickshire lad who had never been out of it, it ought 
somewhere to contain a little Warwickshire word to 
betray the precincts of its writer and its concep- 
tion! Richard Grant White loved to imagine young 
Shakespeare, like young Chatterton and many 



i2 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

another young poet, coming up to London with his 
first poem in his pocket. "In any case, we maybe 
sure that the poem," he says, "was written some 
years before it was printed; and it may have been 
brought by the young poet from Stratford in manu- 
script, and read by a select circle, according to the 
custom of the time, before it was published." If 
William Shakespeare wrote the poem at all, it would 
seem as if Mr. White's proposition is beyond ques- 
tion, so far as mere dates go. But if the result of a 
glossary of the Warwickshire dialect, as paralleled 
with the poem, is to discover no Warwickshire in a 
poem written by a Warwickshire man in Warwick- 
shire, or soon after he left it to go elsewhere, it 
would look extremely like corroboration of the 
evidence of the dates by that of the dialect. 

Now, the annexed Glossary — while, of course, 
sharing the incompleteness of all dictionaries of 
current provincialisms — is at least quite complete 
enough to prove the existence of a Warwickshire 
dialect to-day; and, inferentially, what must have 
been the barbarisms of that dialect three centuries 
ago. But by that Glossary it certainly does appear: 

Firsts that there is and was a Warwickshire 
dialect; 

And, second^ that specimens of this dialect occur 
in every one of the admitted Shakespeare plays, but 
not to the exclusion of specimens of other dialects, 
and therefore, since the writer of the plays must 
have been acquainted with more than one English 
dialect, it is fair to conjecture that he could 
not have been an exclusive user of any one of 
them. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 13 

But this entire absence of Warwickshire dialect 
in "Venus and Adonis," written by a \\'arwickshire 
lad (whicli Mr. Grant ^^^lite could not account for 
on the date of its appearance in print except by 
believing that its young author brought it with him 
to London in his pocket), is not the only mystery 
created by the internal evidence. For it cannot be 
urged that, in treating the classical theme, no op- 
portunity occurred for employment of words and 
idioms peculiar to Shakespeare's own native local 
dialect; the growth of the necessity in the ex- 
pression of rustic wants and emergencies only. 
The fact is exactly in this instance the reverse. For 
example: Inline 657, Venus calls jealousy a ''carry- 
tale," that iSj a gossip or telltale. I'here happen 
to be (as we see from our Glossary) two War- 
wickshire words, "chatterer" and "pick-thanks," 
for this descriptive. The latter is used in the 
plays in " i Henry IV." III. ii. 25, while, in " Love's 
Labor's Lost" (V. ii. 464) the descriptive appears 
as "mumble news." But for the jiicturesque com- 
pound "carrytale," certainly no recourse to any 
dialect was had. And again — whenever the dialect 
consists in the usage rather than the form of the 
word — the word is used in the plays, sometimes in 
the common and sometimes in the local sense; 
but in the poem, always in the proper and usual 
sense. For example: we find by our Glossary 
that "braid" and "braided" in the plays are 
used in the sense of shopworn — or not worn out 
by use. But in "Venus and Adonis" v/e have 
the word as we employ it to-day: "His ears 
uppricked — his braided hanging mane." Again: 



14 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

in the plays we have the word ''gossip" con- 
tinually, sometimes in the sense of a '' Godparent " 
(which is Warwickshire and other provincial usage), 
and sometimes in the ordinary sense, to express 
which a Warwickshire man would have said " pick- 
thanks" or ''chatterer." The word "chill," which, 
in Warwickshire, means to 7uarm, to take the chill 
oif, is used in that sense once ("As You Like It, 
IV. v. 56), but everywhere else in its ordinary sense of 
to touch with frost, or to cool. Again, any musical 
instrument is called in Warwickshire "a music," 
and here in the single play of " Hamlet" we find it 
so used (" Let him play his music," 11. i. 83), while 
everywhere else the word has its usual meaning. 
Side by side in "Macbeth" we find the word 
"lodged" used in its vernacular meaning of pro- 
viding with sleeping quarters ("There be two 
lodged together," II. ii. 26), and in the Warwick- 
shire sense of corn that a heavy storm has ruined 
("Though bladed corn be lodged," IV. i. 55). 
Not to multiply instances, which the reader can 
select for himself from Mr. Bartlett's or from 
Mrs. Clarke's concordance, or (but less accu- 
rately) from Dr. Schmitt's "Shakespeare Lexicon" 
— note that in " Henry VIII." " stomach" is used in 
the sense of a masterful, or overbearing, disposition, 
as in Warwickshire to-day; as the name of the proper 
digestive organ; again in the sense of appetite; 
and, yet again, to mean valor or spirit, just as in 
"Richard III." the word "urge" occurs side by 
side in its good old English meaning and anon in 
its present Warwickshire sense of to irritate, annoy, 
or tease: and never are the above instances of 



THE ENVIRONMENT, 15 

double usage by way of pun or play upon the words 
themselves. 

It further appears that there are in this entire 
poem of eleven hundred and ninety-four verses 
scarcely a score of words to comprehend which even 
the most ordinary English scholars of to-day would 
need a lexicon. But on examining even these 
words, it will be found that they have a source 
entirely outside of Warwickshire or any other one 
dialect — are, in fact, early English words, mostly 
classical; never in any sense local or sectional. 
The following schedule renders this apparent: 

Banning (326) — Cursing. The word is used in this 
sense in '' Lucrece," line 1460, " 2 Henry 
VI." II. iv. 25, and is so used by Gower, 
" Confessio Amantis, (1325), ii. 96, '' Laya- 
mon " (1180), ii. 497, and is good middle 
English. 

Bate-Breeding (655) — In the sense of a stirrer-up 
of strife. Bate in the sense of strife — is 
middle English — occurs in the Coventry 
Mysteries, p. 12, and is the origin of our 
word debate. — To bait a bull was later: Shake- 
spearean English, and the verb to bait, 
meaning to worry to death, is still common. 

Billing (366)— Is the act of birds putting their bills 
together. It is impossible to trace it further 
back than Layamon, who wrote, perhaps, 
about 1 1 80. 

Clepes (995) — She clepes — she calls him — in its 
various forms of clepe, to call, yclept, called, 
named, is so old that it was even practically 



1 6 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALEC7\ 

obsolete before Shakespeare's time, or at least 
pedantic. 
Coasteth (870) — To coast — to grope one's way — a 
beautiful metaphor — to sail or steer as by 
sounds or lights on a coast; to move as a 
ship does in the dark — gropingly. Venus 
guides herself by the sound : 

Anon she hears them chant it lustily, 
And in all haste she coasteth to the cry. 

A boy, Stratford-born, whose first journey 
was to London, would know nothing of the 
seacoast. 

Combustions (i 162) — A good, though not a common 
English word. 

Crooked (134)-— Had, long before Shakespeare's day, 
assumed the meaning, which is now reappear- 
ing, i. e., out of the ordinary — ill-favored, 
dishonest, ugly in person or character — is of 
Scandinavian or Celtic origin. 

Divedapper (86) — A dabchick, a species of greve, 
a small bird common all over England, some- 
times printed dapper; the only dialectic form 
is the Linconshire '* dop-chicken." 

Flap-mouthed (920) — Long-lipped — like a dog — as 
old as Piers Plowman (B., vi. 187, 1396). 

Fry (526) — Meaning the spawn of fishes — is Scandi- 
navian. *' To the end of the fri mi blissing 
graunt i." To thee, and to thy seed, I grant 
my blessing. — Wyckliffe's Bible. 

Jennet (260) — Comes from the Spanish, and is used 
repeatedly in the plays. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 17 

Lure (1027) — In the sense of decoy or call. Used 

in Chaucer, ''Canterbury Tales," 17,021. 

Middle English. 
Musits (6S3) — Musit is a hole in a hedge. It comes 

from the French musser, to hide, conceal, 

and is nowhere a local word. 
Nuzzling (11 15) — To root, or poke with the nose, 

as a hog roots. Older than Shakespeare and 

not yet obsolete. 
O'er strawed (1143) — Overstrewn. In Anglo-Saxon 

means to put in order. Used in Palsgrave; 

also in the plays frequently. 
Rank (71) — A poetical use of the word, applying it 

to a river overflowing its banks. 
Scud (301) — In the sense of a storm, or a gust 

of wind. This is an English provincial 

(though not a Warwickshire) word. In the 

sense used in the plays, to carry, or run 

along. It is of Scandinavian origin. 
Teen (808) Used by (^^haucer in ''Canterbury 

Tales," 3108. Anglo-Saxon in its oldest 

form. In Icelandic it appears as tjon — 

means sorrow or woe. 
Trim (1090) — "Of colors trim." To apply this 

word (meaning, of course, 7ieat) to colors is 

a poetical, not a local usage. 
Unkind (204) — A poetical use — she died unkind ; that 

is, died a virgin — not in the plays in this 

sense. 
Wat (697) — Is a familiar term for a hare; similar to 

Tom for a cat, Billy for a goat, Ned for ass, 

etc. In old English it was spelled wot. It 

occurs in Fletcher, thus: "Once concluded 



1 8 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

out the teasers run all in full cry and speed, 
till Wat's undone." But it does not appear 
to linger (if it ever was used) in Warwick- 
shire. 
Urchin (1105)— Nota dialect word. In all diction- 
aries, archaic and contemporary, and familiar 
throughout England in Shakespeare's time. 
The peculiarity of its use in the poem, *' Ur- 
chin-snouted (/. e.y hedgehog-snouted) — 
boar — seems to me to arise from the fact 
that, though used in the poem in the sense of 
hedgehog, curiously enough the word is used 
in some other sense or senses (what exactly 
it is perhaps difficult to say) in the plays. 
To wit: in the '' Tempest," we have *' Fright 
me with urchin-shows " (II. ii. 5). Evi- 
dently Caliban could not well be fright- 
ened by shows of hedgehogs, for earlier in 
the same play Prospero has threatened ur- 
chins as plagues to come at night. '* Urchins 
shall, for that vast of night," etc. (I. ii. 326). 
In the line, ''ten thousand swelling toads, so 
many urchins" (''Titus Adronicus," II. iii. 
loi), the word may be used in its proper sense 
of hedgehog, but in " The Merry Wives of 
Windsor " (IV. iv. 48), when Mrs. Page pro- 
poses to dress "her daughter, her little 
son, and three or four more of their growth " 
"like urchins, ouphs, and fairies," she must, 
like Prospero and Caliban, have had in mind 
something very different from the small 
quadruped which rolls itself into a ball to re- 
sist attack, but attacks nobody itself. 



THE ENVIRONMENT, 19 

Did Shakespeare write ''Venus and Adonis"? 
The tendency of the following pages is to prove it 
doubtful, if not impossible; and yet, frankly, I am 
unable to convince myself either way. The subor- 
dinate argument of the poem is the same as that of 
the Sonnets— viz., to encourage a handsome youth 
to beget offspring, which may prove something; and 
Hallam ventured to doubt if Shakespeare wrote the 
Sonnets now called his, though he may have written 
those which Meres mentioned. The single passage 
in the poem which sounds to me like '* Shakes- 
peare " is where Venus sobs in the midst of her 
commonplace monologue over the departed Adonis: 
''What tongue hath music now?" I do. not place 
much stress upon the banalities of the poem, such as 

he intends 
To hunt the boar with certain of his friends — 

or 

the queen 
Intends to immure herself and not be seen — 

for Shakespeare often nods in just that way. 

But there are some touches in the poem which 
seem to me to show a country lad's, or a recent 
country lad's, hand. In the dedication the phrase 
" never after ear (that is, plow) so barren a land " 
is one of them. Another striking one is where 
Adonis, outstripping the wind in speed, is said "to 
bid the wind a base." This is an allusion to the 
rustic game of "prisoner's base" — the point of 
which every country lad knows is for the prisoner 
to run to a goal or "base," and for the jailer to 
head for it also, to prevent his reaching it. If 



20 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIAIECT. 

Southampton, or any courtier, had written the 
passage, plenty of other figures would have occurred 
to him. Again, in the passage where, with extrava- 
gant euphuism, Adonis' open mouth is said to 
resemble 

Red morn, that ever yet betokened 
Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, 

the first allusion is, of course, to the old saw 
that at 

A rainbow in the morning the sailors take warning, 

and the other to a rainstorm — which, in Warwick- 
shire dialect, is called a '' tempest." 

Euphuism is said to have been so popular in Lon- 
don that experts advertised to give instruction in 
the art, and there are three other instances at least 
in the poem that are quite too extravagant, viz. : 

When he beheld his shadow in the brook, the 
fishes spread it (/. ^., the shadow) on their gills; 
where Adonis is said to be buried in the dimple on 
his own cheek; or where Venus, beholding the dead 
body of Adonis through her tears, sees double, and 
so is said to be herself the murderer of the extra 
Adonis! Of the words ''cabin," '' cabinet," it seems 
odd that the boar's den and the socket of one of Ve- 
nus' eyes should equally be called a ''cabin," and 
that the nest, or lighting-place, of a lark should 
be called a "cabinet. 

I confess, too, to a difficulty with the word 
" cope," in the line. 

They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 21 

The phrase, to cope with^ that is, to strive with, or 
to fight with, or to emulate something, is good 
classical English, but, used transitively, it may be 
the Warwickshire dialect word ** cop " — pronounced 
coop — meaning to catch. 

The word " coop " is once used in the plays in this 
sense: 

~ And coops from other lands her islanders. 

— King John, II. i. 25. 

And the word *' cope " (unless it is the same word) 
seems to be used also in that sense three times, 
viz, : 

Ajax shall cope the best. 

— Troilus and Cressida^ II. iii. 275. 

How long ago, and when he hath, and is again to cope your 
wife. — Othello, IV. i. 57. 

I love to cope him in these sullen fits. 

— As You Like It, II i. 65. 

As there is no means of determining the matter, 
one conjecture is as good as another as to these, for 
unfortunately the orthography of the quartos is un- 
reliable, and of the folios no better. 

The words " musits " (openings in hedges) — 
" slips " (counterfeit money) — *' unkind "(used four 
times in the poem in the sense of disinclination in 
either sex to the procreation of children) ; ''over- 
shut " (to conclude or close a transaction) ; '' crank " 
(to run back and forward, crossing one's own track, 
or dodging a pursuer); ''direction" (meaning a 
physical instinct); " lawnd " (for a lawn or green- 
sward); "chat" (meaning conversation — the War- 



2 2 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT, 

wickshire form would be " clat ") — may be mis- 
prints. But they are not, anyliow, Warwickshire 
words. When Venus says her eyes are gray (blue 
eyes being called "gray" eyes in Elizabeth's day), 
she certainly does not use Warwickshire dialect. 

Scholars who have within the last forty years 
raised the most interesting questions as to whether 
Shakespeare was, after all, the author of the 
plays called his have always laid much stress upon 
what are known as the parallelisms between the 
plays and contemporary and neighboring literature. 
These ''parallelisms," however, have not strength- 
ened whatever strength the anti-Shakespeareans 
have been able to marshal. For what poet, 
predecessor, contemporary, or successor does not 
Shakespeare — who was not one, but every man's 
epitome — ''parallel"? or, what writers or sets of 
writings, produced in an identical era and genera- 
tion, in an identical neighborhood, and political, 
social, and economical environment, would not 
** parallel"? It is notable, however, that what- 
ever else may or may not parallel, the poems and 
the plays certainly cannot be paralleled either in 
style, method, diction, or music. In the hundreds 
of differing moods and styles of the plays there is 
absolutely not a line which suggests the poem; 
the single exception (if it is an exception) being in 
the line of the " Venus and Adonis " : 

And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again ! 

and where Othello (III. iii. 92) says of Desdemona, 
line 1000, 

And when I love thee not, chaos is come again ! 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 23 

In line 870 of the same poem occurs an analogy, 
which seems, by reason of the surrounding con- 
text, remarkable enough to warrant a paragraph by 
itself. The line runs 

And all in haste she coasteth to the cry. 

Here Venus is represented as catching the cry of 
the hunt in the distance, and endeavoring to come 
up with it guided by her ear alone. To express 
this, the poet selects a word which brings up the 
image of a ship steering along a coast, blindly, as if 
fog-bound; groping its way by means of signs or 
sounds on shore. Is it possible that a poet, not a 
seafaring man, nor himself familiar with a sea- 
coast or the habits of mariners, whose whole life- 
time had been passed in an interior country, should 
have employed this figure? The word coasteth^ in 
this analogy, cannot be found in English literature 
earlier than the poem,* and probably it has never 
been used elsewhere from that day to this, except 
in ''Henry VIII, ," supposed to have been written 
fifteen years later (''The king in this perceiveth 
him, how he coasts and hedges his own way " — III. 
ii. 38). Now "Henry VIII." is the play which 
Spedding, Gervin/us, Fleay, and the English verse- 
testers think was written in great part by Fletcher. 
But scene ii. of Act III., where the above lines 
occur, is by nearly all of these gentlemen assigned 
to Shakespeare. As to the word " cabin " we may not 
speak with equal confidence. Its use in " The Tem- 

* It is used later, in the play, " The I.oyal Subject " (1618) : 
" Take you these horses and coast 'em," Act V. scene ii. 



24 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

pest " four times,* and once each in *' The Winter's 
Tale,"tthe ''Richard III., "|the '^Hamlet/'§ and the 
''Antony and Cleopatra, "|| in its modern nautical 
sense, is, on the other hand, offset by its use in 
"Twelfth Night, "^ in its modern landsmen's sense 
of a hut or small dwelling-place on shore, and the 
use of cabin as a verb in " Titus Andronicus " ** and 
of "cabined " as a participle in " Macbeth. "If And 
it may have been natural enough to find a country 
lad speaking of the sockets of a goddess's eyes as 
cabins (line 1038), since if he had before spoken 
(line 637) of a boar's den as a cabin^ the Warwick- 
shireian did not use the word in his dialect. He 
said " whoam " and " house " and " housen " — and 
the verb to cabin would naturally have been to 
housen^ that is, to put into a house to shelter. How- 
ever, as the root is the mediaeval Latin capamia or 
caban?iay the word might have been used in that 
sense in Warwickshire! 

But, as to even what unmistakable traces of War- 
wickshire the plays present, the commentators are 
unable to agree. While, for example, Mr. King];J; 
urges that the use of " old " for frequent, by the 
drunken porter in " Macbeth," proves the Shakes- 
pearean authorship of the porter's soliloquy, Cole- 
ridge §§ dismisses the whole soliloquy as containing 
"not one syllable" of Shakespeare. "The low 

* I. i. 15-18, 28, II. 197. f III. iii. 24. 

XI. iv. 12. §V. ii. 12. II II. vii. 137. 

II. V. 285. **IV. ii. 179. fflll. iv. 24. 

XX " Bacon and Shakespeare, a Plea for the Defendant," 
Montreal, 1877. 

§§ " Literary Remains," ii. 246-247. 



THE ENVIROh^MENT. 25 

soliloquy of the porter," says Coleridge, ''and his 
few speeches afterward, I believe to have been 
written for the mob by some other hand, perhaps 
with Shakespeare's consent, and finding it take, 
he — with the remaining ink of a pen otherwise 
employed — just interpolated the words, ' I'll devil 
porter it no further; I had thought to let in some 
of all professions that go the primrose way to the 
everlasting bonfire.' However, of the rest not one 
syllable has the ever-present being of Shakespeare." 
But he fails to notice the almost literal repetition of 
the sentiment in "All's Well that Ends Well" (IV. 
V. 54): "They'll be for the flowery way that leads 
to the broad gate and the great fire." (A capital 
illustration of the value of internal evidence in 
writing Shakespearean biography!) 

As a rule, dialect is used by the low-comedy 
characters of the plays, and in the comic situations. 
While the source of the plot of almost every play 
is known, and the original of many of the speeches, 
in Holjinshed and Plutarch and elsewhere, yet, of 
these comic situations, speeches, dialogues, and 
personages, no originals can be unearthed by 
the most indefatigable commentator. Whatever 
else Shakespeare borrowed, these — so far as any 
traces exist — we find to have been his own. He 
often repeats his own conceptions, amplifying and 
perfecting them, as Launce is enriched into Launce- 
lot Gobbo, or Elbow into Dogberry, Parolles into 
Pistol, etc. But there was no model for them. 
They are creations pure and simple, and, for one of 
them — the character of Ancient Pistol — it may be 
said that nowhere in all literature or in any Ian- 



26 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

guage has even an imitation been attempted. Yet 
it is in these very plays, side by side with the patois 
of the clowns and wenches, that the English lan- 
guage rises to flights the sublimity of which it was 
but once more — in the King James Version of the 
Scriptures — to attain. 

"The Warwickshire dialect even to-day is un- 
mistakable. The vowel always has a double sound, 
the jj; sometimes present, sometimes not; either aal 
or yaal. D and j interchangeable (as juke for 
duke): the nominative and accusative transposed — 
(as us done it, He done it to we. ) Thoti never heard. 
In general the 2d person singular not used in War- 
wickshire, except occasionally to young members 
of a family, and then always in the form of thee — 
that is ^ ee.' For the emphatic nominative— j'^ like 
the Lancashire. For the accusative, yer without 
any sound of the r. The demonstrative those never 
heard among the common people (unless when 
caught by infection from the parson, etc.) .?<?//" pro- 
nounced sen. The/ never heard in of, nor the n in 
in. Thejaswell as the h silent or compensated 
for, in words where it does not belong. So ear will 
be pronounced Yea)-. But head will be pronounced 
Yed. Ah, the long sound of a, prefixed to most 
active verbs and adjectives, as a-coming, a-shear- 
ing, a-ploughing: adry, athirsty, acold, a-ungry, 
or for the preposition, on — as atop, awheel, a- 
foot; or, for i7i — ato for /;/ tivo: (Cut it ato 00th 
thee knife = cut it in two with your knife), or even 
prefixed to prepositions themselves: as come anear 
me noo! Don't get anigh them 'osses. A (ah) is 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 27 

almost unvariably used for the verb has. * Ho, ho) ' 
quoth the devil. ' 'Tis my John a' Coombe,' as in 
Shakespeare's familiar pun — to-day." 

I am indebted to Mr. Jesse Salisbury of Little 
Comberton for the following specimens of pure 
modern Warwickshirean. Here is a village wag, 
drawing on the credulity of his fellows: 

''Wer did I get ere big taters from? well, I'll 
tell yii. Ower Tom un I wus at work in brickyard, 
look, un bwutman as 'ad come up river from 
Gloucester, thraowed two or three goodish taters 
out o' bwut; so we picks 'em up un peels 'em fur 
dinner. Well, atter we'd peeled 'em we thraows 
peelin' on to a yup o' rubbidge, bricks' inds un 
that, un thought no moore about it. Well, in a 
faow wicks' time I siz a bit uv a wimblin top a 
comin' up among bricks' inds, un I sez to Tom, sez 
I, * Now we wunt touch that theare tater, but we'll 
wait un see what sart uv a one 'e is, look thu.' So 
when it wus time to dig um up (un there seemed 
smartish faow at the root), we dug round um 
keerful like so as nat to spwile eny on um, un on 
you'll believe I, thay wus biggest taters as I ever 
sin. The biggest on um wus so 'eavy that ower 
Tom un I 'ad to carry 'im away between us on 
'ond-borrow. Now, chaps, let's 'ave another 'arn 
cider un get on." 

And here is a local folk-tale — a story told by a 
thrasher-man, who has tramped to hire out for 
harvesting time, to his mates in the field. 

"The Devil once called on a farmer and exed 'im 



28 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

if he could give him job. 'What con'st do?' said 
the farmer. *0h! enything bout farm,' said devil. 
'Well, I wans mon to 'elp mii to thresh mow o' 
whate,' sez farmer. 'All right,' sez devil, 'I'm yer 
mon,' When they got to barn, farmer said to devil, 
'Which oot thee do, thresh or thraow down?' 
'Thresh,' says devil. So farmer got o' top o' 
mow and begun to thraow down shuvs on to barn 
flur, but as fast as 'e cud thraow 'em down devil 
ooth one stroke uv 'is nile,* knocked all the earn out 
on um, un send shuvs flying out o' barn dooer. 
Farmer thought as had got queer sart thresher- 
mon; un as 'e couldn't thraow down fast enough 
far 'im 'e sez to 'im, ' Thee come un thraow down 
oot?' 'All right,' sez devil. So farmer gets down 
off mow by ladther, but devil 'e just gives lep up 
from barn flur to top o' mow, athout waiting to goo 
up ladther. ' Be yii ready?' sez devil. 'Iss, ' sez 
farmer. Ooth that devil sticks 'is shuppick into 
as many shuvs as ood kiver barn flur, an thraows 
um down. 'That '11 do fur bit,' sez farmer, so 
devil sat down un waited t'll farmer 'ud threshed 
lot, un when a was ready agyun, 'e thraow'd down 
another flur full; un afore night they'd finished 
threshin' whole o' mow o' whate. Farmer couldn't 
'elp thinkin' a good dyuU about 'is new mon, fur 
'e'd never sin sich a one afore. ('E didn't knaow 
it wus devil, thu knaowst, 'cos he took keer nat to 
let farmer see 'is cloven fut. ) So marnin' *e got up 
yarly un went un spoke to cunnin' mon about it. 
Cunnin' mon said it must be th' devil as 'ad come 
to 'im, un as 'e 'ad exed 'im in, 'e couldn't get shut 
* See Glossary, post. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 29 

on 'imathout 'e could give 'im job as 'a couldn't do. 
Soon alter farmer got wum agyun, 'is new mon 
(the devil) wanted to knaow what he wus do that 
day, and farmer thought 'e'd give 'im 'tazer; so he 
sez, ' Goo into barn, look, un count number o' earns 
there be in that yup o' whate as we threshed out 
istaday. ' 'All right,' sez Old Nick, un off a went. 
In faom minutes 'e comes back and sez, ' Master, 
there be so many' (namin' ever so many thousan' or 
millions un odd, Id'na 'ow many). ' Bist sure 
thee'st counted um all?' sez farmer. 'Every earn,' 
sez Satan. Then farmer ardered 'im goo un fill 
'ogshead borrel full a water ooth sieve. So off 'e 
shuts agyun, but soon comes back un tells farmer 
e'd done it; un sure anough 'a 'ad; un every job 
farmer set 'im to do was same. Poor farmer didn't 
know what to make on it, fur thaough 'e wus a 
gettin' work done up sprag, 'e didn't like new 
mon's company. 'Ovvever, farmer thought he'd 
'ave another try to trick 'im, un teld devil 'e wanted 
'im goo ooth 'im a-mowin' come marnin.' ' All 
right,' sez old un, 'I'll be there, master.' But 
soon as it was night farmer went to the fild, un in 
the part the devil was to mow, 'e druv lot o' borrow 
tynes into ground amongst grass. In marnin' they 
got to the fild smartish time, un begun to mov/; 
farmer 'e took 'is side, and teld devil to begin o' 
tother, where 'e'd stuck in borrow tynes thu 
knaowst. Well, at it went devil, who but 'e, un 
soon got in among the stuck up borrow tynes; but 
thay made no odds, 'is scythe went thraough 'em 
all, un only every time 'e'd cut one on um thraough, 
esezt farmer ' bur-dock, master ' ; un kep on just the 



30 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

same. Poor farmer 'e got so frightened last, 'e 
thraough'd down 'is scythe un left devil to finish 
fild. As luck ood 'ave it, soon atter 'a got wum, 
gipsy ooman called at farm 'ouse, and seein' farmer 
was in trouble exed 'im what was matter; so 'e up 
un tell'd 'er all about it. *Ah, master,' 'er sez to 
'im, when 'e 'ad tell'd 'er all about it; 'you 'a 
got devil in 'ouse sure enough, un you can ainst 
get shut on 'im by givin' 'im summut to do as a' 
caunt manage.' 'Well, ooman,' sez farmer, 'what's 
use o' telling mu that? I a tried every thing I con 
think on, but darned uf I cun find 'im eny job as a' 
caunt do.' * I'll tell you what do,' sez gipsy ooman ; 
'when 'a comes wum, you get missis to give 'im 
one uv 'er curly 'airs; un then send 'im to black- 
smith's shap, to straighten 'im on smith's anvil. 
'E'll find 'a caunt do that, un 'e'U get so wild over 
it as 'e'll never come back to yu agyun.' Farmer 
was very thenkful to gipsy ooman, and said 'e'd 
try 'er plan. So bye 'n bye in comes devil, un sez, 
'I a finished mowin', master; what else a you got 
far mu to do? ' ' Well, I caunt think uv another 
job just now,' sez farmer, 'but I thinks missis a got 
a little job for thu.' So 'e called missis, un 'er gan 
devil a curly 'air lapped up in bit o' paper, un 
tell'd 'im goo smith's shap, un 'ommer that there 
'air straight; un when 'a was straight to bring 'im 
back to 'er. 'All right, missis,' sez devil, un off a 
shut. When 'a got to smith's shap, 'e 'ommer'd un 
'ommer'd at that there 'air on anvil, but moore 'e 
'ommered, the cruckeder 'air got; so at last 'e 
thraowed down 'oomer and 'air and baowted, un 
niver corned back to farmer agyun." 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 31 

This is nineteenth-century. The following is of 
earlier date: 



Old Man [meetmg lad with fishing pole on his way 
to the Avon). E waund thu bist agwain fishun? 

Lad. Yus, gaffer, E be gwan pint umbit. You 
used go aince a whiles, didn't yu? 

Old Man. Oy breckling, E 'ad girt spurt times. 
E mind gwain Bricklund Bank aince und reckons 
Tasker Payne went an all. Doost mind oawd 
Tasker? Uns yused ca 'im Bo Naish cos weared 
white 'at. Wul, uns baited ole come marning, and 
uns forcasted t' ave old spart, but daas 't, we 'd 
naught but one or two nibbles fust. Ainse summat 
tuk float as if auld hundud 'd a bin on yend ov 
line. So E picks up stale and pugged an' pugged 
un fish 'e pugged like es ed pug me into river. 
Well, E let fish ave girt run sowst' tire 'im bit thu 
knaowst. Then E yuzzies 'im up bit. But lars, E 
reckoned E ad summat on line bigger 'n E yever 
ketched afore. So E sez Tasker, '' Tasker, us shall 
ave pother getting this ir oot, look thu!" Well, 
doost reckon me 'n Tasker could land 'em? Na, 
no moore ner as ad been Oawd Ingleund ooked on 
line. Bit furder, thaough wuz zum Pawsha chaps, 
Mark Russell, oawd Red-nob Chucketts, un er two 
thayrebuttys. Thee mindst Red-nob, doosn't? Ah, 
thu shoodst sin un, reklin, when Lard Coventry 
come age, when Brud strit long o' Pashaws' wuz a 
chock tables un faolks sittin' down dinner at un an 
caddie enow t' pheeze divil 'imself ! Plum puddins 
in waggin loads bless thu, trews E stons there. 
Poor aowd Red-nob, E con zee urn naow, walkin' 



32 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

daown chiver arm un arm long yung Gunneral, as 
masterful as if ees is even Christian und Lard 
Coventry's carredge keepin' tune long o' musi- 
cianers uth' and bell. 

Lad. But wha bout fish, gaffer? 

Old Man. Ah, uns all maniged t' get in oot 
water, un e wuz roomthy! Wull, there! e was dyul 
t' big to 'elp 'long, E wuz grumpus er summat that. 
Zo uns cut shive oot o midst ov um all roun' un left 
orts on Bank. Never sin sich fish afore nar sense. 

Lad. Maybe E shull find bwns agin Bricklund 
Bank naow, gaffer? 

Old Man. Doesnt thee terrify un, reklini That 
thee oont fiir Master Bomfud 'elped farry un chats 
in cyart und burned mang un sewed ashes in feld o 
mangles, un Master Bumfud canks yit that wuz best 
crap mangles ever kindled that lay. Fain they 
all'd fishlike! Them wuz ussun words. But 'z 
wear in soon reklin. Better shog. Mind nat 
tumble water! 

Of course, in all of the above, then is transposed. 

As to the conjugation of the verbs most in use 
in colloquial speech, the Stratford-on-Avon, War- 
wickshire usage, was doubtless in Shakespeare's 
day practically as at present. Certainly it was not 
less barbarous. 





TO BE. 




Present. 


I be. 


We be. 


Thee bist. 


You be. 


'E or 'er is. 


Thaay be 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 33 

Past. 

I wuz. We wuz. 

Thee wust. You wuz, 

'E v/uz. Thaay wuz. 

Negative {^present). 

I byunt. We byunt. 

Thee bissent. You byunt. 

'E yunt. Thaay byunt. 

Negative (past). 

I wuzzent, or wornt. We wuzzent, or wornt. 

Thee wussent. You wuzzent, or wornt. 

'E wuzzent, or wornt. Thaay wuzzent, ^r wornt. 

Interrog. (present). 

Be I? or be e? Be we? or be us? 

Bist thee? ^o. you? or be yii? 

Is 'e? or is li? Be thaay? or be 'urn? 

Ifiterrog. (past). 

Wuz // Wus we? or wiiz-ws,} 

\Nus\. thee? V^nsybu? ov zviiz y\xJ 

Wuz V? Wuz thaay? or wtiz um? 

Interrog. Neg. (present). 

Byunt I? Byunt us? 

Bissent thee? Byxint yott-? ov byunt yyS.} 

Yunt V? or yunt \i7 Byunt thaay? or byunt 

'um? 



34 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

Interrog. Neg. [past). 

Wuzzent I? Wuzzent we? or wuzzent 

us? 
Wussent ///<?<?.? orwtissent? \N uzztnt you? or wuzzent 

yu? 
Wuzzent 'e? or wuzzent ii? Wuzzent thaay? or wuz- 





zent 'um? 






TO HAVE. 






Present. 




I 'ave, or 'a. 


We 'ave or 


'a. 


Thee 'ast. 


You 'ave or 


'a. 


'E 'ave, or 'a. 


Thaay 'ave. 
Past. 


or 'a. 


I 'ad. 


We 'ad. 




Thee 'adst. 


You 'ad. 




'E 'ad. 


Thaay 'ad. 
Negative (prese?it). 




I 'ant, or 'aint. 


We 'ant, or 


'aint. 


Thee 'assn't. 


You 'ant or 


'aint. 


'E 'ant or 'aint. 


Thaay 'ant 
Negative (past). 


or 'aint 


I 'adn't. 


We 'adn't. 




Thee 'adn'st. 


You 'adn't. 




'E 'adn't. 


Thaay 'adn 


t. 



Interrog. (present). 

'Ave I ? or 'ave e? 'Ave we? or 'tzz/^ us? 

'Ast thee? or 'i?^^/ 'Avtyou? ox 'ave yti? 

'Uv '<f.? or 'izz'<? u? 'Uv thaay? or '^z'<? 'um? 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 35 

Interrog. (past). 
'Ad /; or 'ad e? 'Ad we? or 'ad us? 

'Adst thee? or 'adst? 'Ad you? or 'adyxal 

Ad '^? or 'ad n? 'Ad ///^^j'.? or 'ad 'urn? 

Interrog. Neg. {^present). 

'An't /.? or '««'/ e? 'An't we? or '«;/'/ us? 

'Assn't thee? or 'assn't? 'An't you? or 'iz;/'/ yu? 

'An't '^.? or 'an't u? 'An't ///««j? or 'an't um? 

Interrog. Neg. [past). 

'Adn't /.? or '^'^;z'/ e? 'Adn't we? or '«^;^'/ us? 

'Adn'st thee? or 'adns't? 'Adn't you? or 'adn't y\x} 
'Adn't '^? or '«^«'/ u? 'Adn't //^iz^j^.? or 'adfi't 

um? 

SHALL. 

I sholl. We sholl. 

Thee shot. You sholl. 

'E sholl. Thaay sholl. 

/ shiid, or I shood. IVe shud, or we shood. 

Thee shndst^orihtQ: shoodst. You shud, or you shood. 
' E shud, ^r 'E shood. Thaay shud, ^r thaay 

shood. 

Imperative. 
A — I. e. Stop that. A dun oot. 

Negative. 

I shaunt. We shaunt. 

Thee shotn't. You shaunt. 

'E shaunt. Thaay shaunt. 

I shoodn't. We shoodn't. 

Thee shoodn'st. You shoodn't. 

'E shoodn't. Thaay shoodn't. 



36 



THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 



hiterrogative. 

Sholl /, or sholl e? Sholl we7 or sholl us? 

Shotl or shot theel Sholl you? or sholl yii? 

Sholl V? or j-//^// u? Sholl thaay? or ^//^// urn? 

Interrogative Negative. 



Shaunt /.? or s/iaunt e? 
Shotn't? or shotn't M^^.? 
Shaunt 'e? or shamit ii. 



Shaunt 7eY? or shaunt Visl 
Shaunt jiw/? ov shaunt yn? 
Shaunt thaay? or shaunt 
um? 







WILL, 


I '651. 




We '661. 


Thee 65t. 




You '661. 


'E '661. 




Thaay '661. 


I '66d. 




We '66d. 


Thee 66dst. 




You '66d. 


'E '66d. 




Thaay '66d. 
Negative. 


I wunt. 




We wunt. 


Thee 66tn't. 




You wunt. 


'E wunt. 




Thaay wunt. 
Interrogative. 


'661 /; or odl e? 


'Ool we? or odl us? 


'06t thee? or 


dot? 


'()6\you? or '^W yu? 


'061 'e? or odl tt? 


'061 thaay? or odl um? 



Interrogative Negative. 

Wunt I? or wunt e? Wunt we? or «^?/«/ us? 

'66tn't thee? or ddtn't? y<! \xx\X. ydu? or w/?^«/ yCi? 

Wunt '(?^ or wunt yti? Wunt thaay? or «/?/«/ um? 



I con. 

Thee const. 
'E con. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 
CAN. 

We con. 
You con. 
Thaay con. 



37 



I caunt. 
Thee cosn't. 
'E caunt. 



Negative. 



We caunt. 
You caunt. 
Thaay caunt. 



Interrogative. 



Cun /? or C071 e? 
Cun'st thee'i or const! 
Cun 'e? or con u. 



Cun wel or con us? 
Q.\xxi youl or con yii? 
Cun thaay'! or con um? 



Interrogative Negative. 



Caunt // or caunt e? 
Cosn't thee! or cosnt? 
Caunt V? or caunt u? 



Caunt 2e/^/ or caunt us? 
Caunt /i7/<;? or caunt yii? 
Caunt thaay? or ^^^w/ 
um? 



The American negro— or " po white trash " — par- 
adigm reminds of this. For example, the verb To 
Do — would be: 



I done it. 
You done it. 
He done it. 



Present. 



We uns done it. 
You uns done it. 
They uns done it. 



3^ THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

Preterite, 

I done gone done it. We uns done gone done 

it. 
You done gone done it. You uns done gone done 

it. 
He done gone done it. They uns done gone 

done it. 

Future. 

I go for to done it. We uns go for to done it. 

You go for to done it. You uns go for to done 

it. 
He goes for to done it. They uns go for to done 

it. 

Ftittire Perfect. 

I go for to done gone We uns go for to done 

done it. gone done it. 

You go for to done gone You uns go for to done 

done it. gone done it. 

He goes for to done gone They uns go for to done 

done it. gone done it, etc. 

It has not escaped remark that much of the 
dialect spoken prior to the Civil War by the Ameri- 
can plantation negro was quite as akin to much 
of the English provincial dialects as was the best 
English spoken in America, in that portion settled 
in the Shakespeare day, from 1607 to 1623, to the 
English of the plays; the explanation of this phe- 
nomenon being a very simple one, if we allow for the 
usual rule that deterioration is a more powerful 
tendency than improvement everywhere, and that in 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 39 

association of classes speaking a purer with other 
classes speaking a more corrupted speech, the better 
will imitate the lesser culture rather than the reverse. 
The Southern negro says, and after him his master 
was apt to say, strucken for struck. Just as in 
''The Comedy of Errors" (I. ii. 45), Dromio of 
Ephesus says *'The clock hath strucken twelve 
upon the bell," **Ihad thought to have strucken 
him blind with a cudgel." Says the servant in 
''Coriolanus," (IV. v. 156). And "What is't 
o'clock? Caesar, 't is strucken eight" ("Julius 
Caesar," II. ii. 114). "He that is strucken blind, 
cannot forget the precious treasure " (" Romeo and 
Juliet," I. i. 238), and Biron in "Love's Labor's 
Lost," IV. iii. 221, who usually speaks the purest 
English in that play, asks who sees the heavenly 
Rosaline that does not bow his vassal head 

And, strucken blind, 
Kisses the base ground with obedient breast ? 

And the use of the word " trash " to indicate what 
are considered no-account mortals (even the negroes 
of that date indicating white people too poor to 
own slaves as " po' white trash ") is clearly Shakes- 
pearean. As "what trash is Rome — what rubbish 
and what offal," says Cassius ("Julius Caesar," 
I. iii. 108), clearly alluding to the Roman citizens 
who have offended him. So lago calls Roderigo 
and Bianca " trash " (" I do suspect this trash to be 
a party in this injury," " Othello," V. i. 85), having 
already so alluded to Cassio, Desdemona, and prob- 
ably Othello himself {Idem, II. i. 296). And I am 
assured that the word "swinge," in the sense of, to 



40 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT, 

whip, or to beat, is a Southern United States usage: 
** Swinge me them soundly forth," "Taming of the 
Shrew," V. ii. 104; ''I would have swinged him or 
he should have swinged me," *' Merry Wives," 
V. V. 197; "I swinged him soundly," *' Measure 
for Measure," V. i.. 130; "Saint George that 
swinged the Dragon," " King John," II. i. 288; " I 
will have you as soundly swinged for this," 2 
Henry IV., V. iv. 21; "If you be not swinged I'll 
forswear halfkirtles," Idem, V. iv. 23; " You swinged 
me for my love," " Two Gentlemen of Verona," II. 
i. 88; "Now will he be swinged for reading my 
letter," Idem, III. i. 392. 

As for the H, we need not go beyond the plays 
themselves to find that unfortunate letter hustled 
back and forth from the beginning to the end of 
words, or even put into the middle of words where 
it did not belong and taken out where it did. 

The pith of Beatrice's answer to Margaret's 

" For a hawk, a horse or a husband." 
"For the letter that begins them all— H." ("Much 
Ado About Nothing," III. iv. 55) 

undoubtedly referred to the pronunciation of the 
word "ache" as H, i.e., aitch. But there would 
have been no opportunity for it, had not the dis- 
placement been then, as now, proverbial. But it is 
curious to find that not only even the H at the 
beginning of a word, but even that at the end or in 
the middle of a word, was sometimes eliminated. 
Thus the name of the little page, in " Love's 
Labor's Lost," "Moth," was pronounced " Mote," 
and "nothing," pronounced "noting," as in the 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 4 1 

pun in lines 51, 52, 53, scene iii. Act II., " Much 
Ado About Nothing." So we owe the name of 
Shakespeare's masterpiece and its title role to the 
Frenchman of that date (who also transposed his 
H's). And Belleforest, by bringing the h from the 
silent to the aspirated end of the name, made Saxo's 
hero from Amleth into Hamlet. 

In the word " abhominable " (from the Latin a 
and homtnem), however, was pronounced, in Shakes- 
peare's day precisely as at present, ** abominable," as 
we learn from Holofernes' criticism on Armado's pro- 
nunciation in the ** Love's Labor Lost" (V. i. 21). 

So much for the Warwickshire dialect into which 
young William Shakespeare was born, and in the 
midst of which he lived until, in his eighteenth or 
nineteenth year, he goes (according to Richard 
Grant White) to London with the poem, *^ Venus 
and Adonis," in his pocket. 

Of course ''Venus and Adonis" might have been 
written in the Warwickshire dialect by a man not 
Warwickshire born and bred. But would the con- 
verse proposition be true? Could ''Venus and 
Adonis " — as we have it — have been written by one 
Warwickshire born and bred in the reign of Eliza- 
beth, who had not been first qualified by drill in the 
courtly English in which we happen to find that 
poem written? 

A man of education and culture, one practiced 
in English composition, may forge the style of a 
letterless rustic. Thackeray in his " Yellowplush 
Papers" and Lowell in his "Biglow Papers," have 
done it; and so have Charles Dickens and hundreds 
of others. But could a letterless clown forge the 



42 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

style of a gentleman of culture? Tennyson could 
write ''The Northern Farmer" in Yorkshire dia- 
lect. But could a Yorkshire farmer, who knew 
nothing of any vernacular except the Yorkshire, 
have written the '* Princess," or '* Maud," or 
*' In Memoriam "? or could a Jeames Yellowplush 
have written ''Vanity Fair" or " Pendennis?" 
And if they could have done it after training, 
could they have done it without the opportunity 
for training? A great many wise and eminent 
people, no doubt, may have left Warwickshire in 
mid-England for London in Elizabeth's day, earlier 
than even the period of posts or coach roads. 
Did learned men journey into Warwickshire to 
carry the culture of the court there? Nothing is 
more natural for the lover and worshiper of Shakes- 
peare than to resent any suggestion or hint as to a 
possible want in his, William Shakespeare's, equip- 
ment. But it was not certainly William Shakes- 
peare's fault that he was deprived of resources and 
opportunities, not only not at hand, but not to 
arrive until some centuries after his funeral. The 
best school to which he could have been sent — and 
the only one which his biographers have ever been 
able to assign him — was a grammar school in Strat- 
ford; but the idea of anybody being taught Eng- 
lish grammar — let alone the English language — in 
an English grammar school in those days, is not 
derivable from the record before us. There was 
no such branch, and mighty little of anything in its 
place, except birchen rods, the Church catechism, 
the Criss Cross Row, and a few superfluous Latin 
declensions out of Lily's "Accidence," 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 43 

The first English grammar was published in the 
year 1586, when Shakespeare was a young man of 
twenty-two, with a wife and two children, the oldest 
three years of age, and when he certainly could not 
have been a pupil at an institution of learning, and 
five years earlier than the poem ''Venus and 
Adonis" left Mr. Field's press in Paul's Church- 
yard. 

As far as the plays are testimony, Shakespeare 
himself had no very high estimation of pedagogues, 
as see ''Taming of the Shrew," III. i. 4, 48, 87; 
IV. ii. dy, "Twelfth Night," III. ii. 80; and the 
character of Holofernes, where no power of ridicule 
is spared to make the fat-headed old ignoramus of 
a pedagogue ridiculous, and everybody's butt. In 
the only play whose scene is laid in Warwickshire 
he inserts a travesty upon the method of instruction 
pursued in these very Elizabethan "grammar 
schools." Here it is: 

Master. Come hither, William, hold up your 
head. Come, William, how many numbers is in 
nouns? 

William. Two. 

M. What is fair, William? 

W. Pulcher. 

M. What is lapis, William? 

W. A stone. 

M. And what is a stone? 

W. A pebble. 

M. No, it is lapis. I pray you remember in your 
prain. 

W. Lapis. 



44 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

M. That is good, William. What is he, William, 
that does lend articles? 

W. Articles are borrowed of the pronoun, and be 
thus declined: Singulariter nominitavo, hie, hsec, 
hoc. 

M. Nominitavo hig, hag, hog; pra}^ you, mark, 
genitivo hugus. Well, what is your accusative case? 

W, Accusatavo, hinc. 

M. I pray you have your remembrance, child. 
Accusatavo: hing, hang, hog. What is the voca- 
tive case, William? 

W. O; vocative, o. 

M. Remember, William, focative is caret. What 
is your genitive case plural, William? 

W. Genitive case? 

M. Ay. 

W. Genitive: horum, harum, horum. 

M. Show me now, William, some declensions of 
your pronouns. 

W. Forsooth, I have forgot, 

M. It is qui, quae, quod; if you forget your quies 
and your quaes and your quods, you must be 
preeches.* 

Is this a wanton and utterly unfounded attack 
upon a worthy, honorable, and conscientious pro- 
fession and an excellent educational system, or the 
verbatim report of an eyewitness? If it is, let 
Pinch and Holofernes answer. Let us see. There 
is no exactly contemporary testimony; but in 1634 
the author of the ''Compleate Gentleman" says 

*You must be breeched, i. e., flogged, "Merry Wives of 
Windsor," Act IV. scene i. 81. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 45 

that a country school-teacher '^ by no entreaty 
would teach any scholar farther than his (the 
scholar's) father had learned before him. His 
reason was that they would otherwise prove saucy 
rogues and control their fathers." In 177 1, when 
Shakespeare had been dead a century and a half, 
John Britton, who had attended a provincial gram- 
mar school in Wilts, says that the pedagogue was 
wont to teach the '*Criss Cross Row," or alphabet, 
as follows: 

Teacher. Commether, Billy Chubb, an' breng 
the horren book. Ge ma the vester in tha wendow, 
you, Pat Came. Wha! be a sleepid! I'll waken 
ye! Now, Billy, there's a good bwoy, ston still 
there, an' min whan I da point na! Criss cross 
girta* little ABC. That is right, Billy. You'll 
soon learn criss cross row; you'll soon avergit 
Bobby Jiffrey! You'll soon be a schollard! A's a 
purty chubby bwoy. Lord love en! 

It could not have been much better in William 
Shakespeare's boyhood days than in 1634 and 1771. 
Says Mr. Goadby : *' It is evident that much school- 
ing was impossible, for the necessary books did not 
exist. The horn-book, for teaching the alphabet, 
would almost exhaust the resources of any common 
day school that might exist in the towns and 
villages. The first English grammar was not 
published until 1586." \ Even Furnivall (who, 
whatever his crochets, cannot be accused of being a 
disbeliever in the Shakespearean authorship of the 

* See Glossary, post, 

f Goadby's " England of Shakespeare," p. loi. 



46 THb: WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

plays) says: *' I think you would be safe in con- 
ceding that at such a school as Stratford, about 
1570, there would be taught (i) an A B C book, for 
which a pupil teacher (or * ABCdarius ') is some- 
times mentioned as having a salary; (2) a catechism 
in English and Latin, probably Nowell's; (3) the 
authorized Latin grammar, i.e.^ Lily's, put out with 
a proclamation adapted to each king's reign; (4) 
some easy Latin construing book, such as Erasmus' 
'Colloquies,' Corderius's 'Colloquies,' or ' Bap- 
tista Mantuanus,' and the familiar ' Cato ' or 
'Disticha de Moribus.'"* Says Dr. Halliwell- 
Phillipps: "Unless the system of instruction 
(in Stratford grammar school) differed essentially 
from that pursued in other establishments of a 
similar character, his (Shakespeare's) knowledge of 
Latin was derived from two well-known books of 
the time — the ' Accidence ' and the * Sententise 
Pueriles ' . . . a little manual containing a large 
collection of brief sentences, collected from a variety 
of authors, with a distinct selection of moral and 
religious paragraphs, the latter intended for the 
use of boys on Saints' days. . . Exclusive of 
Bibles, church services, psalters, etc., there were 
certainly not more than two or three dozen books, 
if as many, in the whole town (Stratford-on-Avon). 
The copy of the black-letter English history, so 
often depicted as well thumbed by Shakespeare 
in his father's parlor, never existed out of the 
imagination." f 

But, even had there been books, it seems there 

* " Int. to Leopold Shakespeare, "p. 11. 

f " Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare," 3d Ed., pp. 55-57. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 47 

were no schoolmasters in the days when young 
William went to school who could have taught him 
what was necessary. Ascham, who came a little 
earlier than Shakespeare, said such as were to be 
had amounted to nothing, and ''for the most so 
behave themselves that their very name is hateful to 
the scholar, who tremblethat their coming, rejoiceth 
at their absence, and looketh him returned as a 
deadly enemy." '^ Milton (who came a little later) 
says their teaching was ''mere babblement and 
notions." f " Whereas they make one scholar they 
mar ten," says Peacham, who describes one country 
specimen as whipping his boys on a cold winter 
morning " for no other purpose than to get himself 
into a heat." \ In fact, the birch-rod seems to have 
been, from the days of Ascham at least to the days 
when Sergeant Ballantyne and Anthony Trollope 
went to school, the principal agent of youthful 
instruction and instructors in England. Thomas 
Tusser, a pupil of Nicholas Udal, master of Eton, 
says he used to receive forty-three lashes in the 
course of one Latin exercise. § Sergeant Ballantyne 

* " Works," Bennet's Ed., p. 212. 

\ "Works," Symonds' Ed., London: Bentley, 1806, vol. iii. p. 
348. 
X Goadby's " England of Shakespeare," p. 100. 
§ Udal was convicted of immoralities with his boys and con- 
fessed: but it did not interfere with his promotion. 
From Powles I went to Eton sent 
To learnye straight the Latine phrase 
Where strypes forty-three, given to me 

At once I had 
See Udall see — the mercye of thee 

To me poor lad. 
— Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrye (1573). 



48 



THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 



(whose schooling must have been somewhere circa 
1810-1820) said that his teachers were cold-blooded, 
unsympathetic tyrants, who *' flogged continu- 
ously"* and taught nothing in particular. And 
Anthony Trollope's experiences, as related in his 
autobiography, and Charles Reade's, as related in 
his memoirs by his brother, are directly to the same 




effect. And that there was no desire to conceal 
the fact that the curriculum of an Edward the Sixth 
grammar school was principally flogging, there is 
proof enough. The seal of the grammar school at 
Lowth, which was also one of the grammar schools 
founded by Edward VI., bears as its device a school- 
master flogging a pupil, and doubtless, were the 

* " Some Experiences of a Barrister's Life," London, 1878, p. 
100. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 49 

seal of Stratford school extant, it would be found to 
display the same device. 

If any further confirmation of the ways of the 
sixteenth-century pedagogue is needed, let the 
reader consult '' The Disobedient Child," a rhymed 
interlude made in 1560 by "Thomas Ingleland, late 
student in Cambridge," wherein a boy begs his 
father not to send him to school, where children's 

" tender bodies both night and day 
Are whipped and scourged and beat like a stone ; 
That, from top to toe, the skin is away." 

The conclusion is that a maximum of caning and 
a minimum of parrot-work on desultory Latin para- 
digms which, whether wrong or right, were of no 
consequence whatever to anybody, was the village 
idea of a boy's education in England for long cen- 
turies, easily inclusive of the years within which 
William Shakespeare lived and died. The great 
scholars of those centuries either educated them- 
selves, or by learned parents were guided to the 
sources of human intelligence and experience. At 
any rate they drew nothing out of the country 
grammar schools. In other words, the forcing 
systems of Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt, or of that 
eminent educator Wackford Squeers, Senior, seem 
to have been, so far as the English branches are 
concerned, improvements on the methods of rural 
pedagogues in the sixteenth century. We are not 
advised whether or no the boys were taught to 
cipher, but if they were it probably exhausted their 
scientific course. At any rate, beyond the horn- 
book, very little reading and writing could have 



50 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

been contemplated in a land where, from a time 
when the memory of man runneth not to the con- 
trary to the eighth year of George the Fourth, 
immunity from the penalty of felonies was granted 
to anyone who could make profert of those accom- 
plishments.* 

But, while there is not much of an argument to 
be drawn from the use of a language, idiom, dialect, 
or patois, in a literary composition; the absolute 
absence of any trace or suggestion of any of these 
may be worthy of very serious consideration indeed 
in searching for the nativity and vicinage of a 
writer. A linguist born and resident in France, for 
example, could hardly be demonstrated to be a 
modern Greek from an occasional or even a con- 
stant use of that speech in his books. But, sup- 
posing that, in the course of very voluminous 
writings, no trace or suspicion of a single French 
phrase, idiom, word, peculiarity, turn of expres- 
sion, or tendency could be unearthed? AVould it 
be safer to conclude that he was or was not a 
Frenchman? Again, even geniuses like Goethe or 
Tennyson might perhaps pause in their composi- 
tion to choose a word that would scan in their 
prosody; or between one that would rhyme and 
one that would not. Poetry has its artificial as 
well as its natural laws. And it is not, perhaps, 
too heroic or too bizarre to infer that so perfect a 
poem as ''Venus and Adonis" was, as to its form, 

* The curious reader is referred to the fact that in the year 
1872 benefit of clergy was pleaded in the United States — see 
State V. Betansky, 3 Minnesota, 246. Probably this is the last 
date of its appearance anywhere. 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 5 1 

as well as its method and matter, considered by its 
author. A London-born poet, searching for a 
rhyme, might well — with all England's pictur- 
esque dialects before him — select a Yorkshire or 
a Warwickshire word as precisely to his need. 
Videlicet T\\oxi\d.s Hood, in " Miss Kilmansegg": 

" A load of treasure ? alas! alas! 

Had her horse but been fed on English grass 

And shelter'd in Yorkshire Spinneys 
Had he scorn'd the sand with the desert Ass 

Or where the American whinnies — " 

That was because — we will say — Hood happened 
to want a rhyme for '^ whinnies." But, while no- 
body would dream of trying to prove that Hood 
was Warwickshire- or Yorkshire-born because he 
used the word ''spinneys," which word is common 
in both dialects, yet would it have been possible 
for him, had he been Warwickshire- or Yorkshire- 
born, — in the course of his search for rhymes, — 
never, in all he wrote, to have taken advantage of 
a quantity, rhyme, or vowel sound to which his ears 
had been habituated and his tongue attuned, by 
birth and heredity, or for an entire lifetime — of a 
single picturesque phrase, or word that was to him 
mother tongue? Could he have cut loose, any 
more than could Burns, from the characteristic, 
the birthmark, the shibboleth, of his race and kind? 
If Burns was unable, after a metropolitan drill, to 
lose his native patois, is it perfectly likely that 
William Shakespeare, a couple of centuries earlier 
in English history, could have done it on the 
instant, or even with a day's metropolitan training? 



52 



THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 



So, if the "Venus and Adonis" was written by 
William Shakespeare at all, certainly Mr. Richard 
Grant White is right in saying that it was written 
either in Warwickshire or very soon after its author 





TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
Henrie VVriothefleyjEarle of Southampton; 

and Baron of Titchfield. 

IghtHcnotirdUi Iknorp not hen? T shall of end in 
dedicdtmg my vnplhht lines toyourLordship^or 
how the worlds will cenfuremeefor chocjmgjo 
flrong aproppe to fupport fo vveake a burthen^ 

onelye if your Honour feeme hut pleafed^ J aC" 

count myfelfe highly praifid^ and *vowe to take admntage of all 
idle hour es^t ill Ihaue honoured you vvithfomegrauer labour » But 
ifthefirU heireofmy itmejitionprouedefornud^Ifhallheforieit 
hadfo noble a god-father : andneaer after ear e fo barren a land^ 
for f ear e ityeeldmefiillfo bad a haruefi^ 1 leaue it to your Konou ' 
rahlefuruey^andyour Honor to your hearts content /which I vrifh 
may ahvaies anfw ere your ovvne v vifh, and the <vvorlds hope* 
fitUexpe^atioih 

YourHonorsinalldutie.* 
William Shakelpeare. 

left that county for the great city in which he made 
his name and fortune. Did this country lad of 
eighteen or nineteen, while getting his bread at, 
as some say, the theater doors by horseholding — 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 53 

at any rate in some exceedingly humble employ- 
ment — manage at the same time to forget his War- 
wickshire dialect, and launch himself a Vinstant 
into new modes of thought as well as expression. 
Let us not leave the theme as well as the structure 
and the diction of *' Venus and Adonis " out of the 
account. Southampton and his compeers might 
revel in meretricious and amorous verses — for their 
mistresses to read aloud, or in camera. But did 
Southampton and his compeers employ or enable a 
Warwickshire peasant lad to sing the opulence of 
illicit love! Whether he found a teacher in the city 
or not, or whether he taught himself, we cannot 
tell. But the marvelous thing is, after all, that 
he should be conscious of his own linguistic dis- 
ability. The rule is apt to be quite the other way. 
The dialect speaker sees keenly the absurdity of 
another man's patois, but is inclined to think him- 
self speaking his own tongue in its classical purity, 
nor can he recognize his own solecisms in print. 
I remember reading somebody's comments upon a 
series of novels whose scenes were laid among 
what we in this country call ''Hoosiers" (that is, 
the descendants of settlers who, at a very early 
day, soon after the War of the Revolution, settled 
in what was then called ^*the Western Reserve," 
and, in the then scarcely settled forests, obtained 
a speech which they bequeathed with more or less 
refinement to their posterity — possibly the nearest 
correspondence to the English dialects which exists 
in the United States), as follows: *' I have been 
been assured by a well-educated Hoosier that the 
dialect in Mr. Eggleston's Indiana novels had not 



54 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

the slightest foundation in fact, and the assurance 
was given in tones which to me were exactly rep- 
resented by the printed page. Conversely, to a 
Scotchman the written dialect of Burns will appear 
perfect, while to one not a Scotchman it might fail 
of carrying any perception of the reality." 

If all of the above, or any part of it, is evidence, 
then, of course, the only existing pieces of external 
evidence that William Shakespeare wrote the'' Venus 
and Adonis" are the title-page and the Southampton 
dedication. But, admitting the title page, this 
dedication is not at all satisfactory. We have gone 
into this at such length elsewhere * that it would 
be supererogation to rehearse it all again. Of the 
dilemma which is thus presented we were discussing, 
at that time, the other horn. But we should be glad 
to know, if this poem was written by Shakespeare, 
why Field printed it, and if Field was Southampton's 
printer, why he (Field) printed no more Shakes- 
peare quartos? And, if Southampton's printer, 
Richard Field, printed at his patron's direction, 
the two great poems of his grace's protege Shakes- 
peare, how did it happen that other poems of 
Shakespeare went flying into other, or any other, 
hands? Richard Field prints no more of them. 
This title-page introduced several poems into a 
book of the period, among them being one, "The 
Phoenix and the Turtle," to which Shakespeare's 
name was attached. We all know how one of 
Heywood's poems was signed " William Shakes- 
peare," in the collection called ''The Passionate 

*The " Bankside Shakespeare," Int. to vol. xiv. p. xlviii. 



HEREAFTER 

FOLLOW DIVERSE 

PoeticallEffaies on the former Sub* 

left jviz: the I'urtk and Thanix. 

^one by the hejl andchiefefi of our 

moderne writers, with their names Tub- 

fcribed to their particular workes; 

neuer before extant. 

And (how firft)confecrated by them all generally^ 

t^ the lommdmerite of the tme^noUe Knight^ 

Sir lohn Salisburfc. 

Dignum htuh "virum iMufAvetdtmori. 




5 6 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

Pilgrim," and how, at Hey wood's prayer, Jaggard 
the printer corrected the error (a very unusual 
thing for an Elizabethan printer to do). But it 
appears that the dedication of poems to Lord 
Southampton was rather the rule or the fashion 
of the time than otherwise; that the fact that the 
publisher was Richard Field, a townsman of Shakes- 
peare's, is not altogether as conclusive as it ap- 
pears, since it is unlikely that Southampton should 
have sent Shakespeare to his own countryman, a 
poor and unknown printer, when there were fash- 
ionable printers and court printers, and printers 
who knew Southampton and whom Southamptom 
knew, in plenty in London. The story of the thou- 
sand pounds gift from Southamptom to Shakes- 
peare, and the alleged intimacy of the peer and the 
poet, are merely imaginary facts, and the figment 
of a fancy which long ago yielded to the searchlight 
of modern methods of investigation. 

In 1601 there was printed in London a curi- 
ous little quarto entitled, *' Love's Martyr; or, 
Rosalin's Complaint, Allegorically Showing the 
Truth of Love in the Constant Fate of the Phoenix 
and the Turtle : To these are added some new com- 
positions of several modern writers, whose names 
are subscribed to their several works." Upon the 
first subject, viz., "The Phoenix and the Turtle," 
the sub-title adds, that these additions are "done 
by the best and chiefest of our modern writers, 
with their names subscribed to their particular 
workes, never before extant, and now first con- 
secrated by them all generally to the love and 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 57 

merite of the true, noble knight, Sir John SaHs- 
burie." This Robert Chester, who thus ** floated " 
his production by the aid of well-known names, 
such as Shakespeare, Marston, Jonson, and Chap- 
man, was a would-be litterateur of the day. But 
with the " Love's Martyr" all record of him ends. 
Even the great names he borrowed did not serve to 
** float," much less sell, his poem. (For it appears 
to have laid on the bookshelves unsold, — non dii, 
7ion hoviines^ non columnce, tolerating it.) The 
printers, as a last endeavor to save themselves on 
the expense of its publication, tore up the book, 
and used the sheets over again, with a new title- 
page, — '* The Annals of Great Brittaine, or a most 
Excellent Monument, wherein may be Scene all the 
Antiquities of this Kingedom, to the satisfaction of 
both of the Universities, or any other place stirred 
with Emulation of long Continuance," — in 1611. 
But the book-buying public easily detected the 
fraud, and the book fell flat again, and was prob- 
ably sold for waste paper soon after, for very few 
copies are known to have survived. 

Our only possible interest in the matter is the 
fact that Chester's, or Chester's publisher's, friend 
Shakespeare seems to have been willing to help sell 
his book, and so contributed a poem. A sugges- 
tion that he did more, and went so far as to intro- 
duce Chester to one of his own printers, is evolved 
from the fact that the vignette of the anchor used 
on the sub-title page is that used by one of the 
printers of a Shakespeare quarto, whereas the head- 
piece and tail-piece over the ''Threnos" are the 
same as used in '* The Passionate Pilgrim," printed 



58 THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 

by W. Jaggard in 1599; in the '* Titus Andronicus," 
printed by James Roberts for Edward White in 
1600; and ''The Midsummer Night's Dream," 
printed by James Roberts himself in 1600, one 
edition of which latter was issued as published by 
Thomas Fisher, though supposed to have been 
actually printed by Roberts. But Shakespeare's 
name was certainly not added to the title-page of 
the " Venus and Adonis " to make it sell, for Shakes- 
peare was entirely unknown to anybody when he 
ca:me to London. Nor does it appear that, until 
the success of the character of Falstaff in the i and 
2 Henry IV. — a success which led to the printing 
of not only his beautiful comedies, " The Mid- 
summer Night's Dream" and "The Merchant 
of Venice," but of the " Titus Andronicus " and the 
"Pericles," in the same year with them — the name 
" Shakespeare " on a title-page had any commercial 
value whatever. 

But to return to the "Venus and Adonis," which 
preceded this. In stanzas 56, 86, 87, and 122, the 
author employs similes drawn from legal principles 
and the conveyancer's craft. Had William Shakes- 
peare been a lawyer or a conveyancer in Stratford 
before ever seeing London? For a mere scrivener, 
employed by a lawyer or a conveyancer, would 
scarcely have been equal to the technical use of 
them. Again, in stanza 60, the author uses similes 
drawn from stage usages. Had William Shakes- 
peare been connected with matters theatrical in 
Stratford, and before he ever saw London? 

It is computed that the English peasant employs 



l^hrenos. 

BEautie,Truth,and Raritie^ 
Gvxct'maW iimplicitie, 
Here cnciofdejn cinders lie. 

D eath h now the Phmtx neft. 
And the 7V//^j loyal! brefl, 
ToeternitiedothreO. 

Lcauing no pofterkic^ 
Twas not their infirmitie. 
It was married Chaf^itie* 

Truth may fecme,but cannot be, 
Beautie bragge,but tis not flic, 
Tnjih and Bcamie buried be. 

To this vrneict thofe repaire, 
That arc either true or faire, 
For thcfe dead Birds/igji a prayer. 




6o THE WARWICKSHIRE DIAIECT. 

in his dialect, or his share of the vernacular, some 
five hundred words, which entirely cover his desires, 
his pleasures, and his necessities. Again, the aver- 
age tradesman, man of commerce or of affairs, 
will require at the most but four thousand. It is 
computed that Milton, enriched by classical, bibli- 
cal, and contemporary studies, used in his published 
writings seven thousand words. Professor Craik 
finds that Shakespeare used twenty-one thousand 
words. This miraculous man of business, manager 
of theaters, actor and writer of plays, in thirty 
years reduced to his possession, that is to say, 
three times as many words as did Milton, the man 
of the pen, in a lifetime of scholastic leisure. 

Admittingthis, if William Shakespeare only seven 
years after this Warwickshire residence* wrote the 

* Mr. Edward James Castle, an English Q. C, in his work 
" Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson and Greene " (London : Sampson 
Low, Marston&Co., 1897, pp. 153, 154, 185, 190), thinks the ex- 
planation lies in the fact that "Shakespeare may have gone to 
London earlier than is supposed," He says, " It is by no means 
impossible that, when Shakespeare went forth as a mere lad to 
improve his fortunes, he found an easy introduction to Burbadge's 
company, and when there either played women's parts himself, or 
was an associate with those who did: that he may have been in 
receipt of a good income, and have mixed in good society. His 
talents would have given him introductions everywhere," and 
again " the actors, as is well-known, were highly paid, surrounded 
by all the amenities of fashionable existence, introduced into the 
best society (so that Shakespeare was) . . . perhaps taken 
in hand by some high-born and well-bred ladies." Mr. Castle, 
however, elsewhere says that players, playwrights, and persons of 
theatrical associations were considered of low caste, tabooed in 
good society and, as Ben Jonson complains, "like tinkers, 
rogues by statute," and that " it was a presumption for an actor, 



THE ENVIRONMENT. 6 1 

'' Venus and Adonis," it tends to prove that, in those 
seven years, he was deeply at his exercises. And 
in the '' Venus and Adonis," and the other poems — 
perhaps in the Sonnets — we may have some of these 
exercises — the trial heats, which the Master flung 
aside in training for his masterpieces. 

who was a vagabond at law, or a nobleman's servant, to try and 
get a grant of arms." Mr. Castle's proposition, that it is to 
Elizabeth's "high-born and well-bred ladies'" that we are in- 
debted for Shakespeare, does not meet with the approval of Dr. 
JohnFiske, however. Dr. Fiske's explanation is that " the world's 
greatest genius, one of the most consummate masters of speech 
that ever lived, could not tarry seven years in the city without 
learning how to write what Hosea Biglow calls citified English." 
— The Atlantic Monthly, November, 1897. 



PART II. 

A GLOSSARY 

OF 

THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT. 



64 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Abundance — see Plenty. 



Abuse — (verb). 



Accent. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Old. 



Becall — Go on at, Gleek. 



Tang or Twang. 



GLOSSARY. 



65 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Here will be old Utis 
[that is, plenty of 
Holidays], ''2 Henry 
IV.," 11. iv. 21. 

If a man were porter of 
Hell gate he should 
have old the turning 
the key, " Macbeth," 

II. iii. 2. 

Nay, I can gleek upon 
occasion, ''Midsum- 
mer Night's Dream," 

III. i. 150. Now 
Where's the bastard's 
braves, an Charles his 
gleeks? " I Henry 
VI.," III. ii. 123. What 
will you give us? No 
money on my faith, 
but the gleek, "Ro- 
meo and Juliet," IV. 
V. 115. I have seen 
you gleeking and gall- 
ing at this gentleman, 
"Henry V.," V. i. 78. 

For she had a tongue 
with a tang, "Tem- 
pest,'/ II. ii. 52. Let 
thy tongue tang ar- 
guments of state, 



66 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Active — see Ready. 



Across (diagonally). 

Acquiescent — see Will- 
ing. 

Adder (the serpent). 

Addition (the wing of a 
house), see Shed. 

Adjacent — see Near. 

Ado — see Trouble. 

Adultery. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Sprag. 

Girta. 
Agreeable. 

Ether. 
Lean to. 

Agin. 
Commit. 



GLOSSARY. 



67 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



"Twelfth Night," II. 
V. 134. Let thy 
tongue tang with 
arguments of state, 
Idem, III. iv. 66. 
With a swaggering ac- 
cent, sharply twanged 
off. Idem, III. iv. 171. 

He is a good sprag 
wit, ** Merry Wives 
of Windsor," IV. i. 84. 



What? Committed? O 
thou public Com- 
moner! What, com- 
mitted? Heaven stops 
the nose at it, and the 
moon winks. What, 
committed? Impu- 



68 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Afford (to afford time). 


A while — -A 'cant a while 
= 1 can't afford, or 
spare the time to do 
it. 


Aftermath. 


Lattermath. 


Amorous, see Bedfellow, 
Concupiscent. 


Codding — (from Cod, 
a female companion, 
which see). 


Aftercrop. 


Aftermath — The after- 
crop of wheat is tail 
wheat. 


Aggravate (verb). 


Terrify — 'Eas caowf 
terrifies 'um = His 
cough aggravates him. 


Alley — see Lane. 


Chewer. 


Also. 


An all. 


Always. 


Constant. 


Ample. 


Roomthy. 


Annoy. 


Irk, Back-up. 



GLOSSAR V. 



69 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



dent strumpet! — 

'' Othello," IV. ii. 72, 
76, 80. 



This codding spirit had 
they from their 
mother, "Titus An- 
dronicus," V. i. 156. 



And yet it irks me, 
''As You Like It," II. 



70 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Ankle, or Ankle joint. Ankley 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Ant-Hill. 

Anticipate, see Foresee. 

Anxious. 

Apple — see Wild Apple. 
Appetite. 



Apple (a small, sweet 
variety). 



Approach — to near in 



Anty-tump. 
Forecast. 



Longful — I ha' been 
longful to see you 
again = I was anxious 
to see you again. 

Russet. 

Take away — Take away, 
my appetite is satis- 
fied. We's take away 's 
swaggered. 

Crink, scrumps. 

Another variety, a win- 
ter apple, is a sour- 
ing. 

Going in. 



GLOSSAR V. 



71 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



i. 22. It irks his heart 
he cannot, ** i Henry 
VI.," I. iv. 105. It 
irks my very soul, 
"3 Henry VI.," II. ii. 
46. 



Used as a noun in 
"3 Henry VI.," VI. i. 
42 ; Alas that Warwick 
had not more forecast. 



72 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


point of time — see 
Reach. 




Apron (Pinafore). 


Pinner, Coverslut. A 
long apron to hide an 
untidy dress. 


Astonish. 


Lick me — It licks me 'ou 




un makes the brass=: 
I am astonished to see 
how fast he makes 




money. 


At — (at a certain point of 
time). 


Come — She'll be seven 
come Michelmass = 
she'll be seven at 
Michelmass. 


Argue — see Dispute. 


Arg. or Argal — **Er 
argald me out, as your 
new shawl was blue, 




un it's green now, 
yunt it? " "■ He arg, 
as 1 did now, for cred- 
ance again." (Hey- 
wood, 1566). Gaelic 
largall, a skirmish, a 
fight. 



GLOSSAR V. 



73 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 


I 






His child is a year and 
a quarter old, come 
Philip and Jacob, 
"Measure for Meas- 
ure," III. ii. 213. 
Come Lammas eve at 
night, she shall be 
fourteen, "Romeo and 
Juliet," I. iii. 17. 




Argal, she drowned her- 
self willingly. Argal, 
He that is not guilty 
of his own death 
shortens not his own 
life. Argal, the gal- 
lows may do well to 
thee, "Hamlet," V. 




1. 21, 55. 



74 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


At least. 


Least ways. 


Attack. 


Tank. 


Attempt. 


Aim — ('Er aimed to 
pick it up, but t' wuz 
oer 'eavy fur er to lift. 


Attenuated, thin. 


Scraily. 


Away. 


Abroad — Shoo them 
chuckins abroad! 


Awry. 


Whiff. 


Awkward — see Clown. 


Hocklin — He's a hocklin 
sort walker = He walks 
awkwardly. 


Aint. 


Naint. 


Axle grease. 


Dodment. 


B 




Baker's Shovel. 


Peel — (The instrument 
or *' slide" upon which 
bread is taken from 
the oven). 


Bacon. 


Griskin syke — the skin 
of the bacon-sword. 


Baby — infant, small 


Reckling. 



GLOSSARY. 



75 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



76 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


child— (see Child, Dill. 




Babyish. 






Tiddy— to tiddle is to 
bring up carefully by 
hand — pronounced 
approximately 'Addle. 
An Addling is a lamb 
brought up artificially. 


Bagman. 






Outride, 


Bastard. 






Oos Bird. 


Banns. 






Asked (or askings) outs 
— To be asked out=: 
to have the banns pub- 
lished. 


Barter, Swop. 






Rap. 


Basket, used in 


mills; 


Skip. 


do., used to cai 
luncheon; do., used 
feed horses. 


to 


Frail. 
Server. 


Bushel basket. 






Scuttle. 


Bastard. 






Chance-child. 


Batten — a stick u 
washing clothes 


sed 


in 


Maid. 



GLOSSAR V. 



77 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Burnish. 


Frush. 


Beak (of a bird), the 
bill — see Lordling. 


Neb. 


Beat (verb)— See Pound, 


Warm or Lace. Fullock, 



Whip. 



Beating. 

Beater — (An instrument 
to beat clothes in 
washing.) 

Beckon (verb). 

Bedclothes. 



Wop — I'll warm ye = 
I'll beat you. —I'll lace 
ye — would be an 
equivalent. 

Bunching. 

Batlet. 



Hike. 

Hillings. 



Bedfellow — see Amor- ! Cod — Coddy. By an 
ous, Concupiscent. association of ideas. 

Cod piece = a sort of 
protective pack for 
the male organs worn 



GLOSSARY. 



79 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I like thy armor well. 
I'll frush it, and un- 
lock the rivets all, 
" Troilus and Cres- 
sida," V. vi. 29. 

How she holds up the 
neb, the bill to him, 
''Winter's Tale,"I. ii. 
183. (See as to this 
curious word, posi^ 

LORDLING.) 



I remember the kissing 
ofherbatlet, ''As You 
Like It," II. iv. 49- 



You must needs have 
them with a cod-piece, 
"Two Gentlemen of 
Verona," II. vii. 53. 
Unless you have a 



8o 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



outside of the armor 
or dress. 



Beetle. 


Blackbat. 


Because, 


Along of — It was all 




along of that boy = It 




was all because of that 




boy. 


Beggar. 


Cadjer. 



GLOSSARY. 



8l 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



cod-piece to stick pins 
in, Idem, 56. For the 
rebellion of a cod- 
piece to take away the 
life of a man, '' Meas- 
ure for Measure," III. 
ii. 122. The cod-piece 
that will house before 
the head has any, 
'♦King Lear," III. ii. 
27. Here's grace and 
acod-piece! Idem, III. 
ii. 40. His cod-piece 
seems as massy as his 
club, "Much Ado 
about Nothing," III. 
iii. 146. Dread prince 
of plackets, king of 
cod-pieces, ''Love's 
Labor's Lost," III. i. 
186. 'Twas nothing 
to geld a cod-piece 
of a purse, "Win- 
ter's Tale," IV. iv. 
623. 



82 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Begin (verb). 


Buckle to. 


Begging. 




Thomassing — To go 
a-*' thomassing," is 
to go a-begging 
for gifts (according 
to an old custom, 
on S t . ^ T h m a s ' s 
day), and so, gene- 
rally, to beg is to 
thomas. 


Begone. 




Morris — You bwoys 'd 
better morris = you 
boys had better take 
yourselves off — or be- 
gone. 


Behaved. 




Conditioned — He's well 
conditioned = he's well 
behaved; he's ill con- 
ditioned=he's ill be- 
haved. 


Begrimed, 


Smeared. 


Ditched, A's mug's 
ditched = His face is 
smeared as with mud. 


Behavior. 




Condition. 



GLOSSARY. 



83 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



The best conditioned 
and unwearied spirit, 
"Merchant of Venice," 
III. ii. 295. 



Here is the catalogue of 
her conditions, "Two 
Gent, of Verona," III. 
ii. 273. 
III. ii. 
his ill conditions. 



"Much Ado," 
68; Yes, and 



84 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Behind. 

Beehive. 

Belongings — Luggage. 



Belabor — To pound 
(which see). 



Benighted — See De- 
layed. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Assudbackards. 

Beeskep. 

1 Nails — Pack up ons nails 
and shog = Pick up 
your belongings and 
get out. 

Pun or Pug. — Quilt — 
Leather. To quilt or 
to leather a man is to 
pound or punish him 
severely. 

Lated. 



Between. 
Blear-eyed. 



Atween. 
Wall-eyed. 



GLOSSAR y. 



8S 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS, 



He would pun thee into 
shivers with his fist, 
''Troilus and Cres- 
sida," 11. i. 42. 



Now spurs the lated 
traveler to gain the 
timely inn, ** Mac- 
beth," III. iii. 6. lam 
so lated in the world 
that I have lost my way 
forever, ''Antony and 
Cleopatra," III. ii. 3. 



That ever wall-eyed 
wrath or staring rage 
presented, '' King 

John," IV. iii. 147. 
Say, wall-eyed slave, 
whither wouldst thou? 
*' Titus Andronicus," 
II. ii. 102. 



86 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Blind Alley. 


Pudding bag. 


Blow. 


Polt — He got polt on 
conk = He got a blow 




on the nose. 


Bendweed — (The minor 
Convolvulus). 


Waiweind. 


Bind — to bind books. 
Bind tightly. 


Heal. 

Guss — Don't guss that 
recklin = Don't bind 
the child too tightly. 


Bit, part of harness. 


Bettock. 


Bit — see morsel. 


Scrump. 


Blab, to give away 
secrets (verb.) 


Twit. 


Blackened, see darkened. 


Collied. 



GLOSSAR V. 



87 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS, 



The word occurs three 
times in the plays 
("Two Gentlemen of 
Verona," IV. ii. 8; 
*'i Henry VI.," III. 
ii. 55; "2 Henry VI.," 
III. i. 178), but not in 
this sense. 



Brief as the lightning 
in the collied night, 
*' Midsummer Night's 
Dream," I. i. 145. 
Passion, having my 
best judgment col- 



88 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Blackbird. 



Blade of grass. 

Blown — To lay corn by 
wind or rain. 



Blaze. 

Blunt. 

Boar. 

Boast— to put on airs. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Blackie (a ** black stare " 
is Warwickshire for 
a starling). 

Bent of grass. 

Lodge — The corn is 
lodged ~ the corn is 
laid. 



Blizzy. 
Dubbid. 
Brim. 
Scawt. 



Boast, Brag, verb or \ Crack, 
noun. I Goster. 

Boasting. j Gostering, also used 

I as a noun — meaning 
something to boast of. 



GLOSSAK y. 



89 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS, 



lied, ''Othello," II. iii. 
206. 



They shall lodge the 
summer corn, "Rich- 
ard II.," III. iii. 162. 
Though bladed corn 
be lodged and trees 
blown down, " Mac- 
beth," IV. i. 55. 



And 



Eth 
sweet 
crack, " 
Lost," 
Though 
should 
duty to 
VIII.," 
Indeed 



iops of their 
complexions 

Love's Labor's 

IV. iii. 268. 
all the world 
crack their 

you, " Henry 
III. ii. 193. 

it is a noble 



90 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Boasting — Boastful- 
consequential. 


—see 


Crostering — He's a cros- 
tering fellow = He's a 
boasting fellow. 


Boisterous. 




Lungerous. 


Blunder — Failure. 




Mull. 


Blunt, verb. 




Dub — E'el dub they 
knife agin brick=You 
will take the edge off 
your knife against the 
brick. 


Boaster. 




Cracker. 


Boor — Tram per. 




Chop-goss. 


Booby — See Clown. 






Bosom — (of a garm 


ent). 


Craw— Wi my shift craw 
up = with my shirt 
bosom unbuttoned. 


Borders. 




Adlands — Them's his 
adlands = Those are 
borders of his field. 



J 



GLOSSAR Y. 



91 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



child. A crack, 
madam, " Coriolanus," 
I. iii. 74. 



What cracker is this 
same that deafs our 
ears? *' King John," 
II. i. 46. 



92 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Botch. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Boage. 



Bother — to harass — see Irk — [Also in several 



Annoy. 
Bow— (A curtesy). 



Bowlful — see Jorum. 



Bragging — see Boast. 
Brand new. 



other dialects.] 

Obedience — Make your 
obedience to the par- 
son=:Bow (or drop a 
curtesy) to the parson. 

Jordan. 



Gostering. 
Fire-new. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



93 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



We charged again, but 
out, alas, we botched 
again! '' 3 Henry VI.," 
I. iv. 19. 



Why, they will allow us 
ne'era Jordan, '^iHen. 
IV., II. i. 22. When 
Arthur first in court. 
Empty the Jordan, " 2 
Henry IV.,'' II. iv. 37. 



A man of fire-new words, 
fashion's own knight, 
''Love's Labor's Lost," 
I. i. 179. Some excel- 
lent jests, fire-new 
from the mint, 
"Twelfth Night," 
III. ii. 23. Yoiir fire- 
new stamp of honor is 
scarce current, ''Rich- 
ard IIL," L iii. 256. 
Dispute thy victor 
sword and fire-new for- 
tune, "Lear,"V.iii.i32. 



94 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 




WARWICKSHIRE. 


Breeze — see Forerunner, 


Whiffle— A ''whiffle" is 


Herald. 




more particularly a 
breeze which stirs the 
growing grain, and 
bends it as if to make 
a path through it, 
whence the word — 
whiffler, one who goes 
before, making a path 
for one to come after. 


Bruise — see Batter. 




Frush. 


Bud (verb). 




Chip. 


Breezy — See Gusty, 


Hurden, 


Windy. 






Bully — In the sense 


of 


Knag— Go on at; They 


to ruff, to chaff. 


to 


knag (or go on at) 


abuse — see Tease. 




me so = they chaff 
(or bully or ruff) me. 


Bundle of Hay. 




Bottle of hay — [Also in 
Yorkshire and several 
other dialects.' 


Bungle. 




Mongle. 


Burden. 




Fardel — [Also in various 
other dialects. 







GLOSSAR V. 



95 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Methinks I have a great 
desire to a bottle of 
hay, '' Midsummer N. 
D.," IV. i. 36. 



Who would fardels bear, 
''Hamlet," III. i. 83. 
I heard them talk of 
a fardel, ''Winter's 
Tale," V. ii. 25. 



96 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Burst. 


Squot — What ye squot 
that pod fur = Why 
have you burst that 
pod. 


Busybody, Newsmonger, 


Blobchops. 


Bushel. 


Scuttle — (More properly 
a basket that holds a 
bushel.) 


Buttercups. 


Craisies. 


By-bidder at an auc- 
tion. 


Sweetener. 


By God (an oath as sub- 
stitute for by God). 


Cox. 


C 




Cackle. 


Chackle — Our hen she 
do chackle. 


Cake, small cake. 


Pikelet. 


Cake (verb) — see Col- 
lect. 


Bolter. 



GLOSSAR V. 



97 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Cox my passion, give 
me your hand, how 
doesyourdrum? "All's 
Well that Ends Well," 
V. ii. 42. 



Bolted by the northern 
blast, ''Winter's Tale," 
IV. iv. 376. So finely 
bolted didst thou 



98 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Calf. 


Stagger-bob. 


Candle. 


Dummy. 


Candle lighter, a bit of 
paper or wood. 


Sprill. 


Cannot — see Not. 


Canna. 


Cap — Especially a child's 
cap. 


Biggin. 



Captions, Irritable. 
Caress (verb). 



Carelessly, to wear care- 
lessly. 



Carrion crow. 
Carry (verb). 



Tutly. 

Pither — (pid-hur) see 
she pither him = see 
her caress him. 

Slanged — Slanged on 
anyhow — carelessly 
put on. 

Goarrin' crow, 

Help—I'll help it back 
to 'un =: I'll carry it 
back to its owner. 



GLOSSARY. 



99 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



seem, ** Henry V.," ii. 
137. 



With homely biggin 
bound, "2 Hen. IV.," 
V. 27. 



Help me away, " Merry 
Wives of Windsor," 
HI. iii. 150, and per- 
haps very frequently 
in that sense distin- 



lOO 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Catch. 


Cop, pronounced coop, 
sometimes spelled 




cope in plays. 


Certainly not, on no ac- 
count. 


Ever so — I wud not go 
daown that chewer 
nights, ever so = I 
would not on any 
account go down that 
lane at night. 


Cesspool. 


Stockhole. 


Chaff (Verb). See 
Abuse. 


Go on at — They go on 
at me about going to 
church — They chaff 
me about going to 
church. 


Chatter (verb). 


To cank = to talk incess- 
antly. 


Celebrated, or, as an ad- 
verb, Famously. 


Deadly — He's a deadly 
man ^- for going to 
church = He's cele- 



GLOSSAR v. 



lOI 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



They all strain courtesy 
which shall cope him 
first.— Line 888. 



PLAYS. 



guished from the ordi- 
nary one. 

And coops from other 
lands her islanders, 
''King John," II. i. 25. 
I have to cope him in 
these sullen fits, "As 
You Like It," II. ii. 65. 
Ajax shall cope the 
best, " Troilus and 
Cressida," II. iii. 275. 



Thou didst hate her 
deadly and she is dead, 
''All's Well That Ends 



I02 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




brated for going to 
church (a great church- 




goer.) 


Chaffinch. 


Pink. 


Charcoal. 


Charks. 


Chatter, gossip. . 


Chelp, chirp, cag-cank, 
cank — All those words 
or forms are used. A 
chatterbox is some- 
times called a pralla- 




piece. 


Chatterbox. 


Chatterpie. 


Cheat (verb). 


Fob or Fub. 



GLOSSAR V. 



103 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Well," V. iii. 117. Not 
now, sir, she's a deadly 
theme, "Troilus and 
Cressida," IV. v. 181. 
Yet they lie deadly, 
that tell you you have 
good faces, **Corio- 
lanus," II. i. 67. 



And chattering pies in 
dismal discords sung, 
''3 Henry VI.," V. vi. 
48. 

Fubbed off, and fubbed 
off, and fubbed off, 
from this day to that, 
"2 Henry IV.," II. i. 
37. Resolution thus 
fobbed as it is with 
the rusty curb of old 
father Antic the law, 
"i Henry IV.," I. ii. 
68. 



I04 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Chestnut. 




Hoblionkers. 


Chemise. 




Shimmy. 


Chew (verb). 




Chawl, or chobble 
(chawl perhaps means 
to chew slowly). 


Chicken (any 
fowl). 


young 


Biddy. 


Child—see Small Child. 


Recklin. 


Childbed. 




Groaning. 


Childbed. 




Panzy bed — As if a 
child would ask where 
a baby came from, 
the neighbors would 
say, **oot ov 'ts 
mither's Panzy-bed." 


Chimney. 




Chimbley. 


Chum — an associate or 
hail-fellow — a favor- 
ite. 


Butty. 


Clever. 




Sprag, Sprakt. 



GLOSSARY. 



105 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



What shall be done, Sir, 
with the groaning Ju- 
liet? She's very near 
her hour. ''Measure 
for Measure," II. ii. 15. 



He is a good sprag mem- 



io6 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE, 



Clown — see 
Idiot, Fool. 



Dunce, 



Clumsy. 
Chimney-piece. 



Geck—Patch. 



Noggen. 
Shelf. 



Chirp (verb). 


Chelp. 


Chips. 


Chats. 


Chitterlings of Pork. 


Mudgin. 


Clean out. 


Do out. Do out pig- 




stye = clean out the 




pigstye. It is a ques- 




tion whether this is 




not the contraction 




Dout — used in the 




Shakespearean sense 




of extinguish (which 




see). 



GLOSSARY. 



107 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



ory, " Merry Wives of 
Windsor," IV. i. 84. 

And to become the geek 
and scorn of th' other's 
villainy, "Cymbeline," 
V. iv. 67. And made 
the most notorious 
geek and gull, 

'♦Twelfth Night," V. 

i- 35- 



(Perhaps) in '^ Hamlet," 
III. iv. 112; from the 
shelf the precious dia- 
dem stole. 



And dout them with 
superfluous courage. 
"Henry V.," IV. ii. 
II. 



io8 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Climb (as a tree), verb. 
Claw — (of a fowl). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Clever— see Talon. 



Swarm. 
Talent. 



Fierce — That's a fierce 
little 'un = That's a 
clever baby. 



Clot (verb)— see Col- Bolter, 
lect. • 



Clown — Ignoramus; see 
Fool, Idiot. 



Crack, a fissure. 

Clover — see White Clo- 
ver. 

Coat (short coat). 



Patch-Yawrups — Yer 
great Patch, or you 
great Yawrups = you 
booby, you clown. 



Chaun. 



Slop or Slops. 



GLOSSARY. 



109 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



If talent be a claw, 
look how he claws 
him with a talent, 
" Love's Labor's," 
IV. ii. A double pun, 
to '*claw " being also 
Warwickshire dialect 
for "to toady to," "to 
flatter."— See Toady, 
post. 



Thou scurvy patch, 
"Tempest," III. ii. 
71; capon, coxcomb, 
idiot, patch, "Com- 
edy of Errors," III. i. 

33. 



O, rhymes are guards on 



no 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Cob, stout, compactly 
built horse. 


Galloway. 


Cock — (The male of any 
fowl). 


Tone. 


Comb. 


Shade — Shade this 'eir = 
comb your hair. 


Comely. 


Eyeable. 


Collect — To clog or 
cake (verb). 


Bolter — The snow bolt- 
ers i' his hoof = the 
snow cakes or collects 
in the horse's hoof. 


Companion — in the 
sense of a partner — or 
mate, a "pal " — or 
associate, a chum, 
see Bedfellow. 


Butty. 


Commodious. 


Roomthy. 



GLOSSARY, 



III 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



wanton Cupid's hose. 
Disfigure not his 
slop, "Love's Labor's 
Lost," IV. iii. 50. 
Bon Jour, there's a 
French salutation for 
French slop, " Ro- 
meo and Juliet," II. 
iv. 47. 

Know we not Galloway- 
nags? ''2 Henry IV.," 
11. iv. 203. 



Blood boltered, "■ Mac- 
beth," IV. i. 123. 



112 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Common, Vulgar. 


Article — an expression 
of contempt, for man, 
beast, or commodity. 


Comparatively. 


Accardin — (according) 

— It's as much bigger 

accardin' as my fut is 

nur that mawkins = 




It's as much larger as 
my foot is larger than 
that child's. 


Complete. 


Slow. 


Completely. 


Slow — He turned it slow 
over = He overturned 
it completely. 


Conceited. 


Coxey. 


Concupiscent, Lecher- 
ous. 


Frum, Randy, Codding. 


Confidence. 


Heart — He ain't no 



GLOSSARY. 



113 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS, 



In the verity of extole- 
ment I take him to be 
a soul of great article; 
(that is, a soul of great 
vulgarity), *' Hamlet," 
V. ii. 122. 



Backward pull our slow 
designs, ''All's Well," 
I. i. 233. Wrung from 
me my slow leave, 
''Hamlet," I. ii. 



This codding spirit had 
they from their 
mother, "Titus An- 
dronicus," I. iv. 71. 



TI4 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Conceited, vain. 
Concede. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



heart in it = He has 
no confidence in it; 
also used in the sense 
of quality, as ^' there 
ain't no heart in the 
land " = this land is 
good for nothing. 

Fritch. 

Allow. 



GLOSSAR V. 



115 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



For I can sing, and 
speak to him in many 
sorts of music, that 
will allow me very- 
worth his service. 
(This is one of the 
most curious of sur- 
vivals. The idiom, 
in the Africo-Ameri- 
can of the Southern 
United States, is the 
most common and uni- 
versal of any. **I 
'low dat its a fine 
day," means, I said to 
him it's a fine day. 
"Brer Rabbit 'low 
dat he jes a mite 
hungry, too," = Bro- 
ther Rabbit said, " I 
am hungry," etc.). See 
Joel Chandler Har- 
ris's ''Uncle Remus" 
books. 



ii6 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Concubine. 




Kicky-wicky. 


Confine. 




Stive up — Cub-up. 


Confusion. 




Caddie. Everything is 
all of a caddle=:every- 
thing is in confusion. 


Consequential 




Cocksey. 


Contrive — To 
to live. 


manage 


Raggle, Scrabble — 'Ees 
scrabblin' along = He 
lives from hand to 
mouth = manages to 
get along. 


Convalescent. 




Hand — Ae's 'and now = 
I am now on the mend. 


Coquetting — sec 


: Pry. 


Brevetting. When one 
hangs around as if to 
pry, but generally 
"wenching." 


Costs, expenses- 
lawsuit. 


—as in a 


Cusses. 


Courting — See 
ting. 


Coquet- 





GLOSSARY. 



117 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



He spends his honor in 
a box unseen; that 
keeps his kicky-wicky 
hen at home, "All's 
Well that Ends Well," 
II. iii, 297. 



What's become of the 
wenching rogues? 

" Troilus and Cressi- 
da," V. iv. 35. 



ii8 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Convince. 


Swagger. 


Cowslip. 


Tooty. 


Constable. 


Bum or Bum baily — 




'Ee's got the Bums in 




's 'ouse for rent = The 




constables have dis- 




trained his goods for 




rent. A constable who 




takes up stray cattle is 




called a *' Hay ward." 


Copulate (verb). 


Grouse. 


Core. 


Corple. 


Court, courting. 


Comes to see. 'E comes 




to see our Mary = 




He is courting our 




Mary — sometimes 




^' setting up with " (as 




in New England to- 




day) means the same 




thing. A country 




girl's affianced is her 




* ' Steady company "or, 




briefly, her '^ Steady." 


Cover (verb) to cover 


Rake. 


the fire. 





GLOSSAR Y. 



119 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



Scout me for him at the 
bottom of the garden 
like a bum baily, 
*' Twelfth Night," III. 
iv. 68. 



Where fires thou find'st 
unraked and hearths 
unswept, *' Merry 
Wives of Windsor," V. 
iv. 50. 



120 




GLOSSAR Y. 


VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Covetous. 






Muckerer. 


Cramped. 






Cubbed up — we are a 
cubbed up =: we are 
cramped for room. 


Crack. 






Chan. 


Crawl. 






Scrabble. 


Crease (vei 


-b). 




Ruck — Braid. 



Criticise (verb), To find 
fault with. 



Crusts, crumbs. 

Cucumber. 
Cunning, 

Curdle (verb). 

Cut (verb) — Also to bar- 
gain. 



Fault it — can you fault 
it? = can you criticise 
or find fault with it? 

Crusses. 

Cunger. 
Pimping. 

Cruddle. 

Haggle, a pedlar is a 
Haggler. 



GLOSSAR V. 



121 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



On us both did haggish 
age steal on, "All's 
Well that End's 
Well," I. ii. 29. Suf- 
folk died first, and 
York, all haggled 
over, comes to him, 
"Henry V.," IV. vi. 
II. 



122 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Crockery. 


Cracks. 


Cross — vixenish. 


Contrary. 


Cruel — See Boisterous, 


Lungerous. 


Crumpet. 


Pickelet. 


Crusted. 


Padded — The ground's 'a 




padded = the ground 




is crusted or baked 




with drouth. 


Cucumber. 


Conger. 


Curtesy. 


Obedience — mak yer 




obedience to she = 




curtesy to her. 


D 




Dam (noun), mill dam. 


Fletcher. 



Dam (verb), to dam up. 

Dandelion. 

Darkened — See Black- 
ened. 



Stank, 



Piss a bed. 



Coilled (possibly de- 
rived from Coil, which 
see, under Trouble). 



GLOSSARY. 



123 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



*Tis pity — love should 
be so contrary, **Two 
Gentlemen of Ve- 
rona," IV. iv. 90. 



Brief as the lightning 
in the coiled night, 
*' Midsummer Night's 
Dream," I. i. 145. 



124 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Dainty, Fastidious. 

Dandle (to toss a cliild 
in tlie air). 



Darkness. 



Daughter (legitimate). 



Dash — See remarks 
under Thrust. 



Dawdler — see Trifler. 
Daub, to smear. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Choice. 

Dink. To toss a child on 
the knee— is to dink- 
fart it. 

Murk. 



Wench — Her be the par- 
son's wench = She is 
the parson's legitimate 
daughter. (** Used all 
over England without 
any depreciatory in- 
tention.) 

Yerk. 



Slacken-twist. 
Bemoil. 



GLOSSAR V. 



125 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Passion having my 
best judgment coilled, 
''Othello," II. iii. 206. 



'Ere twice in murk 
and occidental damp, 
"All's Well that 
End's Well" II. i. 166. 



And with wild rage yerk 
out their armed heels, 
"Henry V.," IV. vii. 

83. 



In how miry a place how 
was she bemoiled, 
"Taming of the 
Shrew," IV. i. 77. 



126 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Delicate, unable to bear 
cold or wet weather. 
See Sapling, Slender. 



Delirious, dazed 
sickness. 

Death-sign. 



in 



Deceitful. 



Decorate (verb). 



Dedicate (Verb). 



Defile — See Lane, Pas- 
sage. 

Deformed. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Starven, Wimpled. 



Moithered. 



Token — I am certain 
sommat has come to 
my son, for I saw his 
token last night; it 
was a white dove flew 
out the curtain. 

Fornicating — Ees a for- 
nicating chap = He is 
a treacherous, or de- 
ceitful, fellow. 

Dizzen — Wha' be you diz- 
zenin yoursel' before 
theglass=:Whyareyou 
decorating yourself? 

Wake — The church was 
waked = The church 
was dedicated. 

Chewer. 



Gammy (of an arm or 
member only). 



GLOSSAR Y. 



127 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



This wimpled, whining, 
purblind, wayward 
boy, "Love's Labor's 
Lost," in. i. 81. 



128 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Dent. 
Depressed. 
Destroy (Verb). 



Destroy. 



Delayed 
back. 



See Draw- 



Depart — See Part. 



Detriment. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Dinge. 



Cut up. 

Rid — [Also in several 
other dialects; occurs 
in a glossary of Swale- 
dale, Yorkshire, in this 
sense.] 

Terrify — Thee's been 
terrifying my cab- 
bages = You have 
destroyed my cab- 
bages. 

Lated — I am lated an 
hour = I have been 
delayed an hour [also 
in several other dia- 
lects]. 

Shogg off — Morris. 
You'd best morris 
now = You had better 
depart — take yourself 
off. 

Denial. 



GLOSSARY. 



129 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



The red plague rid ye, 
"Tempest," I. ii. 64. 



Now spurs the iated 
traveler, "Macbeth," 
III. iii. 6. 



Shogg off! I would have 
you solus, " Henry 
v.," II. i. 48. Shall 
we shogg off, Idem^ 
II. iii. 48. 

Make denials increase 
your services, " Cym- 
beline," II. iii. 53. 
Prejudicates the busi- 
ness, and would seem 
to have us make denial. 



I30 



GLOSSARY, 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Devil, the. 


Old Harry. 


Devour, or devouring. 


Ravin, Raven, or Ra- 
vine — In most English 
dialects; perhaps this 
is only a shortening of 
Raving. 


Dew. 


Dag — There'sbeenanice 
flop o' dag = there's 
been a nice fall of dew. 


Diaper. 


Dubble. 


Die, to cease to live 
(verb). 


Croak. Go back — Pass — 
I'm afeard my dilling 
'11 pass hereby^I am 
fearful that my child 
will die this time. 


Different. 


Odds — It '11 all be odds 
in a bit = It will be dif- 
ferent in a moment. 



GLOSSAR V. 



131 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



'* All's Well that 
End's Well," I. ii. 9. 



Meet the ravin lion, 
''All's Well that Ends 
Well," III. ii. 120. 
(Benjamin shall raven 
as a wolf, King James 
Bible, Gen. xliv. 27.) 



Vex not his ghost. O let 
him pass, ** Lear," V, 
iii, 213. Disturb him 
not, let him pass peace- 
ably, "2 Hen. VI.." 
III. iii., 29. 



Were still at odds, but 
being three, ''Love's 
Labor's Lost," III. i. 
91; nothing but odds 
with England, "Henry 
V." IL iv. 129. 



132 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Dig (Verb). 




Earth — Earth it up=dig 
it up. 


Digestion. 




Digester — His digester 
is bad=:His digestion 
is out of order. 


Dissolve. 




Resolve. 


Direct, directly 
Immediately, 
. ently. 


— see 
Pres- 


Next — Next away. 


Disorder — Disorderly. 


Huggermugger — Mul- 
locks — This rooms all 
on a mullock; it wans 
fettlin up a bit = This 
room is in disorder 
and needs setting to 
rights. 


Dirty. 




Grubby. 


Disagree, quarrel. 




Chip out, or drop out — 



GLOSSAR Y. 



133 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Whose liquid surge re- 
solves the moon into 
soft tears, *'Timon 
of Athens," IV. iii. 
442. Thaw and Re- 
solve itself into a 
dew, "Hamlet," I. ii. 
130. Even these re- 
solved my reason into 
tears, " The Lover's 
Complaint," 296. 

'Tis the next way to turn 
tailor, ''i Henry VI.," 
III. i. 264. 

And we have done but 
greenly, In Hugger- 
mugger to inter him, 
*' Hamlet," IV. v. 
87. 



134 



GLOSS AR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




Me and him chipped 
out (or dropped out) 
other day = He and I 
quarreled the other 
day. 


Disarrange. 


Midge. 


Disorder, confusion. 


Pucker. 


Disturb. 


Raise the place. 


Ditch. 


Grimp. 


Does. 


Do— He do like it = He 
does like it. 


Dolt — see Stupid. 


Nozman. 


Dog-tooth. 


Puggin-tooth. 


Domineering. 


Masterful, or Missising. 



GLOSSAR V. 



I3S 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



He raised the place with 
loud and coward cries, 
" King Lear," II. iv. 
43. I'll raise all 
Windsor, ** Merry 
Wives of Windsor," 
V. V. 223. This busi- 
ness will raise us all, 
''Winter's Tale," II. 
i. 193. 



Doth set my puggin- 
tooth on edge, ''Win- 
ter's Tale," IV. iii. 
437. 



136 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Donkey. 


Jerusalem Pony. 


Doubtful. 


Dubersome — It's duber- 




some he goes = It's 
doubtful if he goes. 


Dough, sometimes a 
pudding. 


Duff, or Dunch. A pud- 
ding made of flour and 
water and eaten with 
salt, is a Dunch-dump- 




ling. 


Down. 


Dowle. 


Drain. 


Grimp. 


Drab — a shiftless 
woman — see Slattern. 


Shackle. 


Draw (as to draw tea). 


Mash — The tea was 
ready mashed = The 
tea vv^as drawn. 


Drawback, or Delay 
(sometimes). 


Denial — It's a great 
denial to him to be 
shut up in the house 
= It's a great draw- 
back for him to be 
kept in-doors. 


Dregs. 


Dribblins, Swatchell or 
Swappel. 



GLOSSARY. 



137 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



The dowle that's in my 
plume, " Tempest," 
III. iii. 65. 



Make denials increase 
your services, " Cym- 
beline," II. iii. 53. 



138 



GLOSSARY, 



VERNACULAR. 



Drenched — see Wet. 

Dried — see Crusted. 
Drink (noun). 



Drip. 



Drive out. 

Drizzling. 

Drop — see Expectorate. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Watched — or Wet- 
chered. 

Padded. 

Drench, 'As in 's drench. 
= He is in drink, /. <?., 
is drunken. 



Gutter, usually of a can- 
dle. The dummy gut- 
ters ~ The candle is 
dripping, or burning 
unevenly. 

Scouse — Scouse them 
dawgs out = Drive 
out the dogs. 

Damping. 

Gob, Gobblets. 



GLOSSARY. 



139 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Give my roan horse a 
drench, says he, " i 
Henry IV.," II. iv. 
120. Sodden water, a 
drench for surreined 
jades, '< Henry V.," 
III. V. 19. 



With gobbets of thy 
mother's bleeding 

heart, 2 ** Henry VI.," 
IV. i. 85. Into as 
many gobbets will I 
cut it, as wild Me- 
dea young Absyrtus 
did, Ideniy V. ii. 

58. 



140 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Droop — see Sink. 


Sagg. 


Drool~a 
low. 


waggish fel- 


Dryskin — 'Ees a droll 
wag — 'Ees a dryskin. 


Drunken. 




Fresh, Muzzy — He's 
fresh, or muzzy = He's 
drunken. 


Dry. 




Starky. 


Dull 
Sleepy. 


see Heavy, 


Urked. 


Dumpling- 


-see Dough. 


Dunch. 


Dunce — see Idiot, Fool. 


Geek, Patch — [Common 
to several dialects . 


Dung, Ma 


nure. 


Sharm — Cow sharm = 
Cow manure. 


Dungeon. 




Dungill. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



141 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



Shall never sagg with 
doubt, "Macbeth," V. 
iii. 10. 



Perhaps so used in a 
withered serving man; 
a fresh tapster, 
"Merry Wives of 
Windsor," I. iii. 19. 



And made the most no- 
torious geek and gull, 
"Twelfth Night," V. 
i. 351. And to be- 
come the geek and 
scorn of th' other's 
villany, "Cymbeline," 
V. iv. 67. 



142 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Dwarf. 


Durgey. Sometimes 
called a *' go by the 
ground." 


E 




Earrings, probably the 
false earrings worn to 
keep the perforation 
open. 


Sleepers. 


Economy. 


Salvation — It's no salva- 
tion to scrum a reasty 
shive = It's no econ- 
omy to stuff one's self 
with sour bread. 


Eel Basket. 


Putcheon. 


Elm Tree. 


Elven. 


Election. 


Ond Shaken Time — /. ^., 
the local election, 
when the candidates 
shake hands with the 
voters. 


Emaciated, in the sense 
of down to a fine 
point — see Pinched, 
Thin. 


Picked, 



GLOSSARY. 



143 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



At gaming, perhaps in 
this sense in swearing, 
or about some act 
that has no relish of 
salvation in it, ''Ham- 
let," II. i. 58. 



Used in the sense of 
nice (perhaps thin or 
sharp), in "Hamlet," 
V. i. ; ''The age is 



grown so 
See also 



picked." 
'* Love's 



144 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Embers. 

Elegant (splendid). 

Embarrassed. 



Embarrass, also in the 
sense of put out, Ex- 
tinguish — see Extin- 
tinguish, Put Out. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Gleeds. 

Clinking, Perial. 
Graveled. 



Dout — He douts me 
He embarrasses me. 



GLOSSAR V. 



145 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Labor's Lost," V. i. 
14; '* He is too picked, 
too spruce." 



When you were gravelled 
for lack of matter you 
might take occasion to 
kiss, *'As You Like 
It," IV. i. 75. 

The dram of Eale doth 
all the noble substance 
often doubt to his own 
scandal, ** Hamlet," 
L iv. If this is a use 
of the Warwickshire 
word, I think this cele- 
brated crux is simpli- 
fied, viz. : the morsel 
of evil born in the man 
embarrasses and extin- 
guishes (or eclipses) 
all his good points. 
(Eale being a misprint 
for evil). See use of 
the word dout in 
"Henry V.," IV. ii. 
11; and again in 
''Hamlet," IV. 7. I 
have a speech of fire 



146 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Ember (a live ember 


Gleed. 


only). 




Empty (verb). 


Shit, Shit them taters 




out 0' scuttle = Empty 




those potatoes out of 




that bushel-basket. 


Encourage, to urge on. 


Age on. *Ee aged ' 'cm 




on = He urged or en- 




couraged him to pro- 




ceed. 


Encourage. 


Hearten. 


Endure. 


Abide, Abear — I can't 




abide (or abear) it = I 




can't endure it. 



GLOSSARY. 



147 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



that fain would blaze, 
but that this folly 
clouts it. The mis- 
printof doubt for dout, 
and of eale for evil, 
both occurring in one 
sentence, have caused 
the greatest and most 
exploited Shakes- 

pearean crux. 



My royal father, cheer 
those noble lords and 
hearten those that 
fight in your defense, 
''3 Henry VI." II. ii. 
78. 

Good natures could not 
abide to be with, 
'* Tempest," I. ii. 360, 



148 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Enough. 


Enu (Enew). 


Equal — (an equal in 


Even — Christian. 


station). 


-, 


Entangle (Entangle- 


Twizzle, Ravelment, a 


ment.) 


tangle of yarn — is a 




Robbie. 


Entirely — Completely. 


Slom, Clean. E turned 




slom (or clean) over 




= He turned a com- 




plete somersault. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



149 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



see also " Merry- 
Wives," I. i. ; '' Meas- 
ure for Measure," III. 
ii. ; *' Midsummer 

Night's Dream," III. 
i. ; ''Merchant of 
Venice," IV. i. ; 
''Julius Caesar," III. 
ii., etc., etc. 



That great folk should 
have countenance to 
drown or kill them- 
selves more than their 
even Christian, "Ham- 
let,"V. i. 31. 



Roaming clean through 
the bounds of Asia, 
" Comedy of Errors," 
I. i. 134. Though 
not clean past your 
youth, "2 Henry IV.," 

I. ii. 110. And domes- 
tic broils clean over- 
blown, "Richard III.," 

II. iv. 61. Renounc- 
ing clean the faith 
they have in tennis 



IS© 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Entrails. 



Erase (verb) 
Scratch out. 



— see 



Equitable — Fair-play be- 
tween men. 



Ewe. 
Exactly. 



Excel (verb). 



Excellent. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Chittlins. Aggies: (per- 
haps the Scotch Hag- 
gis) — The Entrails and 
Ropes of a Sheep. 

Scrat. 



As good as — Ayzum- 
Tazzum. Ul give 
one as good as him 
= I will get as much 
as he does. 

Yoe. 

Justly — It fits him justly 
= It fits him exactly. 
— Pronounced jussly. 



Cap. 



Undeniable. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



^51 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



and tall stockings, 
^' Henry VIII.," I. iii. 
29. 



Be justly weighed, 
''Twelfth Night," V. 
i. 375. Equal bal- 
ance justly weighed, 
''2 Henry IV.," IV. 
i. 67. 

I will cap that proverb 
with there's flattery in 
friendship, '' Henry 
V." III. vii. 129. 



152 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Excellent. 
Excrement. 
Excited, nervous. 
Expectorate (verb). 



Excessive, Excessively 
— see Very. 



Exchange (verb). 
Exhausted. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Expert. 
Expertly, neatly. 

Expenses. 

Extension of a house- 



Reeming. 

Gold dust. 

Puthery. 

Gob, Yaux. See Drop, 
Mouthful. 

Terrible — Above a bit. 
He's terrible fond of 
the little 'un = He is 
excessively fond of the 
child — or Er's worrit 
above a bit — He's 
extremely worried. 

To chop = to trade one 
thing for another. 

Sadded, Forwearied — or 
Sadded. He's gone 
forwearied = He's ex- 
hausted or worn out. 

Dabster, Dabhand. 

Gainly. In print — E dost 
it in print like = He 
does it expertly. 

Cusses. 

Lean to. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



153 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Were as terrible as her 
terminations, " Much 
Ado about Nothing," 
II, i. What is the 
reason of this terrible 
summons? ''Othello," 
II. i. 246. 



Forwearied in this, 
John," II. i. 233. 



K. 



154 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



see Addition, Shed, 
Wing. 

Extinguish — (Verb) see 
Embarrass, Put out. 
Shut. 



Extremely. 



Fade, Decrease or dis- 
appear. 



Fagot (any piece of fire- 
wood). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Dout. 

Douk (verb), to duck the 
head. ''You must 
douk yer yud to get 
thraough that little 
doer." 

Dowst (noun), a blow. 

DoAvt (verb), to extin- 
guish (? ''do out"). 
" Mind as you dowts 
the candle safe, w'en 
yu be got into bed." 

Like — As, as (with the 
adjective), It's as like 
as like — It's very 
like, or it's pleasant 
like = It's very pleas- 
ant. 



Sigh, The posies be sigh- 
in' — or in the case of 
a humor — This boils 
aginnin to sigh = This 
boil is decreasing. 

Bangle, Bavin — Kid. 



GLOSSAR V. 



155 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And dout them with 
superfluous courage, 
''Henry V." IV. ii. 
II. I have a speech of 
fire which fain would 
blaze, but thatthisfolly 
douts it, '' Hamlet," 
IV. vii. 192. 



And rash bavin wits, 
'* I Hen. IV." III. 61. 



iS6 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Fagged — worn out, very 
wearied — see Fa- 
tigued. 



Failure. 



Fairies. 

Fancy. 

Fall — see Dew. 

Famished. 

Fat, usually Hog's fat. 



WARWICKSHIRE, 



Mull— Mulled - foiled. 



Pharasees, a mispronun- 
ciation confounded 
with a Biblical word. 

Fainty. 

Flop. 

Famelled — or clommed. 

Scam. 



Fatigued — utterly worn ' Forwearied — [also in 



out, see Exhausted. 



several other dialects]. 



Faultfinder, a captious Pickthanks. 
person (as in mod- \ 
ern argot perhaps a 
"kicker"). 



Feeble. 



Casualty — He's getting 
old and casualty now 
= He's getting old 
and feeble. Also 



GLOSSAR V. 



157 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 


• 


Peace is a very apoplexy, 
lethargy; mulled, deaf, 
'' Coriolanus," IV. v. 




239- 




Forwearied in this, 
''King John," II. i. 




233- 




By smiling pickthanks 
and base news- 




mongers, " I Henry 
IV.," III. ii. 25. 



158 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 






Creechy, Grouchy, 
Crofifing, or Fodder- 






ing. 


Feed 


(verb). 


Fother, Serve — The pigs 
are served (or foth- 
ered) = The pigs are 
fed. 


Feel. 




Find of — I find of thus 
foot irks me = I feel 
this foot paining 
me. 


Feeling (noun). 


Felth. 


Feet. 




Hummocks — Keep thy 
hummocks home = 
Keep your feet where 
they belong. 


Fell. 




Fall— We must fall that 
tree — We must cut 
down that tree. 



Fellow (Especially a fel- 
low workman, or part- 
ner in a job). 



Butty. 



Fennel (and umbellifer- Kex or Keks [also in Sus- 
ous plants generally). sex, Whitby, Mid-York- 
shire, and several other 
; dialects]. 



GLOSSARY. 



159 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



For the table, sir, it shall 
be served in? " Mer- 
chant of Venice," III. 
V. 75- 



Thistles, keeksies, burs, 
''Henry V.," V. ii. 52. 



i6o 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Fetched. 


Fet. 


Fitches. 


Vetches. 


Fever. 


Faver. 


Field (when inclosed). 


Close. 


Fields. 


Ground. 



Fidget (verb), to worry 
one's self. 

Fidget (verb), to worry 
another. 

Fine. 



Finery— see Trinkets. 



Fissle — with the fingers. 
Fither. 

Roil. 



Perial — That's a perial 
nag now = That's a 
fine mount, or that's a 
beautiful saddle horse. 

Bravery [also in several 
other dialects]. 



First milk (of a cow after Bisnings. 
calving). ' 



GLOSSARY. 



i6i 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



On, on, ye noble English, 
whose blood was fet 
from fathers of war- 
proof, "Henry V.," 
III. i. 17. 



Which grows here in my 
close, " Timon of 
Athens." V. ii. 



With scarfs and fans 
and double change of 
bravery, "Taming of 
Shrew," IV. iii. 57. 



l62 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Fists. 


Fises, Fisses. 


Flail. 


Nile. 


Flatter (verb). 


Claw — He claws 'un = 
He flatters me. [Also 
in several other dia- 
lects.' 


Fledged. 


Fleshy. 


Fledgeling. 


Batchling. 


Flirt, to coquette. 


Brevet, used probably 
only as a participle. 
She is flirting — she is 
brevetting. 


Flogged (in school). 


Breeches. 


Flutter (verb). 


FHcket. 


Flower. 


Flur. 


Flower bed. 


Flur, Knot. 



Friendly. 



Great. They be great 
this day = They are 
very friendly to-day. 



GLOSSARY. 



163 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



If you forget your quies, 
your quaees, and your 
quods you must be 
preeches, '' Merry 
Wives of Windsor, "IV. 
i. 81. 



1 64 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Fluent (over ready). 


Limber — How limber 
your tongue is = 
How fluent (or talka- 
tive) you are. 


Food. 


Chutf (one full of food 
is called a chuff). 


Food — in bad condition, 
especially meat. 


Cag-mag. 


Fond. 


Partial to — I be so par- 
tial to onions = I am 
very fond of onions. 



Fondle — see Caress. 

Fool — see Idiot, Simple- 
ton. 



Foolish — see Fool, Sim- 
pleton, Stupid. 



Pither. 

Patch — (Wise says that 
loon means a mischie- 
vous or rascally fool; 
one who does inten- 
tional harm; in this 
latter sense common 
to a great many Eng- 
lish north country and 
Scotch dialects; in the 
female, Gomeril). 



Crudy. 



GLOSSAKV 



I6S 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Me off with limber vows, 
'* Winter's Tale," I. ii. 
47. 



Hang ye, gorbellied 
knaves, are ye un- 
done? No, ye fat 
chuffs, ''r Henry IV.," 
II. ii. 94. 



I am not partial to in- 
fringe, "Comedy of 
Errors," I, i. 4. 



What patch is made our 
porter? '' Comedy of 
Errors," III. i. 35. 
The patch is kind 
enough, but a huge 
feeder, '* Merchant of 
Venice," II. v. 46. So 
were there a patch set 
on learning, to see 
him in a school, IV. 
ii. 32. 

It . . dries me there 
all the foolish and 



1 66 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Forerunner, see Breeze, 
Herald. 



Foresee — to Anticipate. 
Also a noun •— Fore- 
knowledge. 



Whiffler. 



Footstep. 



Forthwith — see 
stantly. 



In- 



Forecast— What do ye 
forecasts:: What do you 
anticipate, or foresee. 



Grise, Footstich. 



Straight [also to several 
other dialects]. 



GLOSSARY. 



167 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



crudy 

Henry 

106. 



vapors, 
IV., •' IV 



" 2 
iii. 



The deep-mouth'd sea, 
Which like a mighty 
whiffler 'fore the king, 
Seems to prepare his 
way, " Henry V,," 
Chorus to Act V. 

Alas! that Warwick 
had no more forecast, 
"3 Henry VI.," V. i. 



pity you — that's a de- 
gree to love — not 
a grise, '' Twelfth 
Night," III. i. 135. 
Every grise of fortune 
is smoothed by that 
below, '* Timon of 
Athens," IV. iii. 16. 
Say a sentence, which, 
as a grise or step may 
help these lovers, 
''Othello," I. iii. 
200. 



i68 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Frail, unsafe. 




Sidder — The ladder's 
sidder = The ladder 
is unsafe to stand on. 


Forward, Brazen, 




Fast — in a young woman. 


Foul. 




Frousty. 


Foundered, Worthless. 
Frail, unsafe 

(of a Horse only). 


Drummill. 


Freckled. 




Bran-faced. 


Freeze (verb) — 
Frozen. 


see 


Fry, Starve. 


Frighten (verb). 




Gallow. 


Frenchman. 




Mounseer (a corruption 
of Monsieur). 


Frequent (in this sense 
of repetition) — see 
Plenty of. Abundance. 


Old — There old work for 
him yet = There's 
plenty of work for 
him yet. 



GLOSSARY. 



169 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Lest the bargain should 
^ catch cold and starve, 
''Cymbeline," I. iv. 
180. 

The wrathful skies, gal- 
low the very wander- 
ers of the dark, 
''Lear," IIL ii. 44. 



If a man were porter of 
hell-gate, should have 
old turning the keys, 
''Macbeth," IL iii. 2. 
We shall have old 
swearing, " M. of V.," 
IV. iii. 16. Here will 



lyo 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR, 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Frightened. 






Frit— He's frit - He's 
frightened. 


Frock (the garment 
worn by laborers, one 
gathered in b}^ the 
waist). 


Slop. 


From. 






Off — I bought um off 
Jones == I bought 
them from Jones. 


Frozen. 






Starved — Perished. 


Full (stuffed). 






Chock, Ched (more par- 
ticularly with eating) 
— His bag was chock 
full = His bag was 



GLOSSAR Y. 



171 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PI.AYS. 



be an old abusing of 
God's patience and the 
King's English, "Mer- 
ry Wives," Li. 2; also 
"2 Hen. IV.," II. 4. 
**MuchAdo,"V. ii. 98. 



Disfigure not his slop, 
" Love's Labor's Lost," 
IV. iii. 58. Satin for 
my short cloak and 
slops, " 2 Hen. IV." 

I. ii. 83. Salutation 
to your French slop, 
'* Romeo and Juliet," 

II. iv. 47. As a Ger- 
man from the waist 
downward, all slops, 
''Much Ado About 
Nothing," III. ii. 35. 



172 



GLOSS A R Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




very full, as chock as 
chock. As ched as 
ched = I have eaten 
all I want. My appe- 
tite is satisfied. 


Fumaria (the rank class 
of weeds). 


Fumatory. 


Funnel. 


Tun-dish. 


Furrow— see Ridge. 


Land. 


Fuss— see Scrimmage. 


Work — Bull-squilter — 
Fad. There'll be 
work agin that broken 
glass = There will be 
a fuss about that 
broken glass. Ees all 
in a work, or in a Bull- 
squilter=:He is fussing 




or worrying or fuming. 


Fussy. 


Faddy. Ees a faddy old 
gaffer = He is a fussy 
old man. 



GLOSSAJ^ V. 



173 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



The darnel, hemlock 
and rank fumatory, 
"Henry V.," V. ii. 45. 
Crowned with rank 
fumiter and furrow 
weeds, "Lear," IV. 
iv. 3. 

For filling a bottle with 
a tun-dish, "Measure 
for Measure," III. ii. 
182. 



Here's goodly work! I 
would they were abed! 
"Coriolanus," I. i. 56. 
A likely work that 
you should find it, 
"Othello," IV. i., 156. 



174 



GLOSSAR v. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


G 




Gadfly. 


Brize [also in several 
other dialects]. 


Gain (verb). 


Gets — My watch gets = 
My watch gains time. 


Game, Sport. 


Ecky. 


Gander. 


Gendered. 


Gate. 


Yat — Yat-pwust singin=: 
talking over the gate- 
post — /. e., saying dif- 
ferent things to differ- 
ent persons; about 
equiv. to the Ameri- 
canism, over the fence. 



Gather (verb). 


Gether. 


Generally. 


Mwist-an-ind. 


Gaudy (smartly attired). 


Spif, Spiffy. 


Gentle (timid). 


Soft — When applied to a 
girl it means gentle, 
timid, confiding; ap- 
plied to a man it sig- 
nifies dolt or idiot. A 
dialect synonym is 
cade. A gentle, lov- 



GLOSSARY. 



175 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



The brize upon her, like 
a cow, '^'Vnt. and Cleo- 
patra," III. X. 14. 



For we are soft as our 
complexions, '' Meas- 
ure for Measure," II. 
iv. 138, and undoubt- 
edly often used in this 
sense throughout the 
plays. 



176 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




able girl is a '' pretty 
cade Jill." 


Gentlemanly — see Re- 
spectable. 


Still. 


Getting on, Progressing. 


Frogging. Owar's frog- 
gin? ~ How are you 
progressing? 


Ghastly — see Horrible. 


Unked. 


Giddy. 


Gidding. 


Gimlet. 


Nailpercer. 


Girl — see Daughter. 


Gell— Wench. 


Gladly. 


Lief— I'd lief go = I'd 
gladly go. 


Glance, a (of the eye). 


Blether, Flinch. I don't 
get a flinch from her 
= 1 don't get a glance 
from her. 



GLOSSARY. 



177 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Perhaps so used in Troi- 
lusand Cressida, I. iii. 
The still and mental 
parts, or '* a still and 
quiet conscience," 
''Henry VIII.," II. 
iii. 379. 



Used with ''as"— al- 
ways in the sense of 
willing in the plays. 
Mrs. Clark gives 
twenty cases in her 
" Concordance." 



178 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Glide. 


Glir. 


Glimpse. 


Blether. 


Glean (Verb). 


Leese: to Poke, is to 




glean a second or 




third time. 


Gleaners. 


Lazers. 


Glutton. 


Forty-guts. 


Gnash — to grind the 


Gnaish. 


teeth. 




God-parents. 


Gossips — They two are 




my gossips = They are 




my god-fathers or god- 




mothers. 



Going on— Happening, i Agate — What's agate? 
transpiring. j What is going on? 

Good-for-Nothing, a — Faggott. Sin' the faggot's 
A worthless person. | come under her nose 

I doant get a flinch 



GLOSSAR V. 



179 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Perhaps used in this 
sense in ''Richard 
III.," I. i. 83, ''are 
mighty gossips in 
our monarchy." Un- 
doubtedly so used 
in the Christening 
scene, " Henry VIII.," 
V. V. 13, My noble 
gossips, ye have been 
too prodigal. 



i8o 



GLOSSARY 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Gorge, or stuff (to eat 
greedily), verb. 



Gosling — see Nestling. 



Gossip — see Tattler, 
Tale-bearer. 



Grab, Clutch after 
(verb). 

Grandfather. 

Gradually. 



Grate (verb). 



from her=:since that 
good-for-nothing fel- 
low has appeared, I 
don't get a glance from 
her. 

Stodge, Scrum — Don't 
scrum (or stodge) 
them crinks that a 
way = Don't eat those 
small apples so greed- 
ily. 

Gull. 



Pickthanks [also in Mid- 
Yorkshire, and various 
other dialects]. 

Clozen. 



Gaffer. 
Inchmeal. 



Race— Raced ginger = 
powdered or grated 
ginger. 



GLOSSARY. 



i8i 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Yond gull Malvolio 
is turned heathen, 
''Twelfth Night," III. 

ii. 73. 

Pickthanks and base 
newsmongers, " i Hen- 
ry IV.," III. ii. 25. 



Make him, by inchmeal, a 
disease! ''Temp." II. 3. 

A race or two of ginger, 
"Winter's Tale," IV. 
iii. 52. 



l82 GLOSSARY. 




VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Greasy. 


Glorry. 




Great. 


Girta. 




Greensward— see Turf. 


Grinsard. 




Grin (verb). 


Nicker. 




Grub (verb). 


Stock. 





Grove, especially a small 
grove. 

Grumbling. 



Guess— see Suppose. 



Guide post. 

Gush, perhaps in the 
sense of to attack — 



Dumble. 



Crak, Cag-mag. 

Her's on the Crake — 
Allers on the crake, or 
she's allers cagmaggin 
= She's always grumb- 
ling. 

Reckon (common in the 
Southern States of 
America). 

Cross an' hands. 

Pash. 



GLOSSAR V. 



183 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




Perhaps used in an ob- 




scene pun in "Two 




Gentlemenof Verona," 




III. i. 311. "What 




need a man care for a 




stock with a wench." 




Thou wantest a rough 




pash and the shoots 



i84 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



with either words or 
blows. 



Gusty— see Windy. 

H 

Haggard (gaunt). 

Halfpenny. 

Half-witted—see Wit- 
less, Dunce, Fool, 
Idiot, etc. 

Hames (the iron fitting 
outside a horse collar). 

Handkerchief. 



Hurden. 

Clem gutted. 

Meg. 

Sorry. 

Eames. 



Muckkinder, 
cher. 



'Andker- 



GLOSSARY. 



185 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



that I have, ''Win- 
ter's Tale," I. ii.128. 
If I go to him with my 
armed fist I'll pash 
him o'er the face, 
"Troilus and Cres- 
sida," II. iii. 213. 



And how, and why 
this handkercher was 
stained, '* As You 
Like It," IV. iii. 98. 
I counterfeited to 
swoon when he showed 
me your handkercher, 
Idem, V. ii. 30. Good 
Tom Drum, lend me a 
handkercher, ''All's 
Well that Ends Well," 



i86 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Hand (of a child). 


Donney. 


Handle — (when a stick 
or pole). 


Stock (of a mug or cup). 
Stale — Broom staler 
broom handle; mop 
stale — mop handle; 
rake stale=rake han- 
dle. 


Handful. 


Ontle. 


Handy — Easy, simple. 


Gain. Allhalluns. That'll 
be the gainest way = 
That way will be the 
easiest. 


Hangnail, also a Surety, 
or a Backer. 


Backfriend. 


Harass. 


Harry. 


Hard times. 


Cold-crowdings. 



GLOSSARY. 



187 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



V. iii. 322. I knit my 
handkercher about 
your brows, " King 
John," IV. i. 42. 



Is it your will to make a 
stale of me? ^* Tam- 
ing of the Shrew," J. 
i. 58. Had he none else 
to make a stale but 
me? ''3 Henry VI.," 
III. iii. 260. 



A back friend, a shoulder 
clapper, "Comedy of 
Errors," IV. ii. 37. 

A proper man — Indeed 
he is so — I repent me 
much that I so hurried 
him, "Antony and 
Cleopatra," in. iii. 43. 

The idea of a cold day, 
as a day of misfortunes, 
appears current in the 



i88 



GLOSSAR r. 



VERNACULAR. 



Hardy — See healthy. 



Harness (verb or noun). 



Harvesters (persons who 
go from place to place 
to work during har- 
vest.) 

Hatchet. 

Have (auxiliary verb). 

Head. 

Headstall (the headgear 
of a horse). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Frem — Your plants do 
look frem — Your 
plants look vigorous 
(or hardy). 

Gear the horse=:Har- 
ness the horse. Put 
on the gear=:put on 
the harness. 



Cokers. 



Hook bill. 
A'. 
Yed. 
Mullen. 



GLOSSARY. 



189 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



play. It would make 
me cold to lose, 
''Timon of Athens," 
I. i. 93. It has lately 
appeared in the phrase 
" It's a cold day when 
I get left ! " in U. S. 



Used in the sense of 
"trappings," "uni- 
form," or "dress"; un- 
doubtedly in the plays. 
Muscovitesin shapeless 
gear, "Love's Labor's," 
V. ii. 364. I will rem- 
edy this gear ere long, 
"2 Henry VL,"IIL i. 



I go 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Headstrong — see Obsti- Awkward, 
nate. 



Health (a condition of). 



Healthy — see 
Thriving. 



Hardy, 



Liver-pin, Liver-vein, 
'Avedrap more soop — 
t'U oil yer liverpin (or 
liver vein). 

Pert — He's quite pert to- 
day = He is in good 
health or spirits to- 
day. A lively, healthy 
child is called a 
''rile"; a weak or 
sickly old person is a 
" wratch "; a sickly 
child is a ''scribe." 
Applied to an animal, 
the adjective is kind — 
As, that cow aint kind 
= That cow doesn't 
thrive. Applied to 
plants, the adjective 
used is " frem." 



Heap, to pile up (verb), ' Hudge (participle Hud- 
syn., to accumulate j died, Fetched), 
grievances against an 
enemy. 



GLOSSARY. 



191 



VENUS AND ADONIS 



PLAYS. 



By awkward wind from 
England's bank, *' 2 
Henry VI.," III. ii. 

83. 

This is the liver vein, 
which makes flesh a 
deity, ^'Love's Labor's 
Lost," IV. iii. 74. 



Glancing an eye of pity 
on his losses, that have 
of late so huddled on 
his back, '' Merchant 
of Venice," IV. i. 28. 
I'll potch at him some 
way, or wrath or craft 



[92 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Heavy rain — see Rain- 
storm. 

Heavily. 



Heavily. 



Hedge Sparrow. 

Heel Rake (the big rake 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Heavens hard, 
pest. 



Tern- 



Baulch. — Ecoom daown 
clommer (or baulch) 
= He fell heavily. 

Clommer, only with the 
verb to tread, or walk. 
A steps clommer like 
= He treads heavily. 

Hedge Betty. 

Hellrak. 



that follows the har- 




vesting wagon.) 




Heap. 


Yup. 


Hemlocks — see Fennel. 


Kecks. 


Helped — to help. 


Holped. 


Herald, one who goes be- 


Whiffler. 


fore to announce. 





GLOSSARY. 



193 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



may get him, " Corio- 
lanus," I, X. 15. 



We were blessedly holp 
hither, "The Tem- 
pest." 

The deep-mouthed sea, 
which like a mighty 
whiffler for the King, 
Seems to prepare his 
way, "Henry V.," 
chorus to Act V. 



194 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Herbs. 


Yarbs. 


Hermaphrodite. 


Will-Jill. 


Hers. 


Shis'n — They be shisn 
dillings = Those are 
her little children. 


High spirited. 


Aunty — Stomachful. 


Hindrance — see Draw- 
back. 


Denial. 


Hindside-before. 


Assundbackward. 


His. 


His'n. 



GLOSSARY 



195 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




Stomach, in this sense, 




common enough in 




the plays. Enterprise 




that hath a stomach 




in't, "Hamlet," I. i. 




103. My little stom- 




ach to the war, " Troi- 




lus and Cressida," III. 




iii. 220. Man of an 




unbounded stomach, 




"Henry VHI.," IV. 




ii. 34, etc. 




He's fortified against 




any denial, "Twelfth 




Night," I. V. 154. Be 




not ceased with slight 




denial, "Timon of 




Athens," II. i. 17. 




Make denials increase 




your services, "Cym- 




beline," II. iii. 53. 



196 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Hit (perfect of verb to 


Hot — I hot him = I have 


hit). 


hit him. 


Hoe (verb). 


Hoove. 


Hold (verb). 


Haowt. 


Home. 


Whoam. 


Horrible. 


Unked — His leg is an 




unked sight = His leg 




is in a horrible condi- 




dition (i. e., wounded 




or diseased). (Also 
dull, lonely, solitary, 
which see). 


Horse (for riding). 


Nag [but in every other 
English dialect]. 



eye. 



Houses. 



Housen [this old Saxon 
plural is used still in 
many words in War- 



GLOSSAR Y. 



197 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Gait of a shuffling nag, 
*'i Henry IV.," iii. i. 
135. Know we not 
Galloway nags ? "2 
Henry IV.," II. iv. 
205. 

Much is breeding, which, 
like the courser's hair, 
hath yet but life, and 
not a serpent's poison, 
"Antony and Cleo- 
patra," I. ii. 200. 



198 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



However. 



Human Being. 



Hungry. 
Hurrying, Bustling. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



wickshire, such as 
Hosen, plural of hose, 
etc.]. 

Howsomdever or Weev- 
er (both forms are 
used). 



Christian. 



Famelled. 

Pelting — E saw im go 
pelting by=:I saw him 
hurrying by. 



GLOSSARY. 



199 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Hovvsomever their 
hearts are severed in 
religion, their heads 
are both one, " All's 
Well that Ends Well," 
I. iii. 56. 

It is spoke as a Chris- 
tian ought to speak, 
** Merry Wives of 
Windsor," I. i. 103. 

The more pity that great 
folks should have 
countenance in this 
world to hang or 
drown themselves 
more than their even 
Christian, '' Hamlet," 
V. i. 32. 



Every pelting petty offi- 
cer, *' Measure for 
Measure," II. ii. 112. 
Have every pelting 
river made so proud, 
that they have over- 
borne their continents, 
"Midsummer Night's 



2 00 



GLOSS A R V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Hurry (verb). 


Nip. 


Husk (verb). 


Learn. 


Husk (verb). 


Hud — Leam. 


I 




Idiot — see Fool, Ignora- 


Geek Patch. 


mus, Supernumerary. 





Idle (verb) — see Loiter. 



Mess — Doant mess along 
= Don't idle by the 
way. 



GLOSSAR V. 



20I 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Dream," II. i. 91. We 

have pelting wars, 
''Troilus and Cres- 
sida," IV. V. 267. 



The most notorious geek 
and gull that e'er in- 
vention played on, 
''Twelfth Night," V. 
i. 35. To become the 
geek and scorn o' the 
other's villany, ''Cym- 
beline," V. iv. 67. 

Thou scurvy patch! 
''Tempest," III. ii. 71. 
What patch is made 
our porter? "Comedy 
of Errors," III. i. 36. 
The patch is kind 
enough, but a huge 
feeder, " Merchant 
of Venice," II. v. 46. 



202 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Idler. 






Feeder — They're a' feed- 
ers = They are idlers, 
good-for-nothing per- 
sons. [Also in several 
other dialects. 


Idling. 






Cogging — goggitting. 
Widdin about — Play. 


Ignoramus- 
Fool. 


-see Idiot, 


Patch. 


Illegitimate 
Bastard. 


Child- 


— see 


Wench. 



Immediately — see Pres- 
ently, Instantly. 



Improperly. 



Image — see Model. 



Awhile — Crack, Quick- 
stitch = You'd best do 
job quickstitch = You 
had better go at that 
job at once. 

Out of — To call a man 
out of his name = To 
give his name im- 
properly. 

Mortal — Ees mortal 
moral o's gaffer = He 
is the exact image of 
his grandfather. 



GLOSSARY. 



203 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I will your very faithful 
feeder be, '*As You 
Like It," II. iv. 99. 
The tutor and the 
feeder of my riots, 
"2 Henry IV.," 
V. V. 

And death shall play 
for lack of work, 
''All's Well that Ends 
Well," I. i. 24. 



204 



GLOSSAR V, 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Incite — see Induce. 


Kindle. 


Inconvenient. 


inconvenient. 


Indigestion. 


Repeat — I repeat tha 
mutton =r I cannot di- 
gest mutton. 


Industrious. 


Work-brittle — Es work- 
brittle knaaps = He is 
an industrious young 
man. 


Induce — see Instigate, 
Urge. 


Kindle — I'll kindle him 
= I'll induce (or pre- 
vail upon) him to do 
it. [Also in South 
Yorkshire and several 
other dialects." 


Impudent (in malicious 
sense). 


Gallus — /. <r., Gallows 
— a gallows face == A 
face of one who, being 
born to be hung, will 
not be drowned. 


Indecision. 


Iffin and Offin. 


Infant — very small. 


Lug tit. 


Infirm. 


Tottery. 


Injure (/. <?., to carelessly 
injure by handling). 


Gawm. 



GLOSSARY. 



205 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



But that I kindle the boy 
thither, "As You Like 
It," I. i. 179. Used in 
Wyclif s translation of 
Bible, Luke, iii. 7. 



He hath no drowning 
mark upon him, his 
complexion is perfect 
gallows, "Tempest," 
I. i. 32. 



2o6 



GLOSSAR Y, 



VERNACULAR. 



Intercourse, Familiarity 
— see Talk. 



Instantly. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Scrawl, Truck— I'll 'ave 
no truck wi' um = I 
will have no inter- 
course with him. 

Awhile — see remarks 
post, under Quickly. 



Instigate (in the sense of | Tarre. 
to stir up a quarrel, to 
bring on a fight). 



Interfere (verb). 



Meddle and make — I'm 
not going to meddle 
an' make = I'm not 
going to interfere. 



GLOSSAR V. 



207 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



To it lustily awhile, 
'' Two Gentlemen of 
Verona," IV. ii. 25. 

And like a dog that is 
compelled to fight, 
snatch at his master 
that dothe tarre him 
on, ^' King John," IV. 
i. 117. Pride alone 
must tarre the mastiffs 
on, as 'twere their 
bones, '' Troilus and 
Cressida," I. iii. 392. 
And the nation holds 
it no sin to tarre them 
to controversy, 
''Hamlet," II. ii. 3-70. 

I will teach a scurvy 
Jack-priest to meddle 
an' make (written 
''or"), "Merry 
Wives of Windsor, " I. 
iv. 116. The less you 
meddle or make with 
them the better, 
" Much Ado about 
Nothing," III. iii. 55. 



208 



GLOSS A R V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Invention — Any clever 
contrivance. 


Morum. 


Irregularly. 


Fits and girds. 


Irritate (verb). 


Rifle. 


Intestines. 


Innards — I'm that bad 
in my innards = I'm 
suffering internally. 


J 




J Oram 


Jordan. 


Juice. 


• 

Vargis. 


K 




Key. 


Kay. 


Kiss. 


Smudge — Doher face. 



GLOSSAR V. 



209 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



For my part I'll med- 
dle and make no fur- 
ther, ''Troilus and 
Cressida," I. i. 14. 



When Arthur first in 
court — Empty the Jor- 
dan ! *'2 Henry IV.," 
II. iv. 37. They will 
allow us ne'er a Jor- 
dan, ** I Henry IV.," 
II. i. 22. 



2IO 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Kindle. 


Make = Make the fire= 
Kindle the fire. 


L 




Lack — see Spare. 




Laid — see Lay. 


Lodged. 


Lambkin — see Yearling. 


Earling — Teg, Baalam 
(probably Baa-lamb). 


Lands outlying. 


Grounds. 


Lane — see Passage. 


Chewer, or Entany — or 
Sling (all three words 
are common). 


Lay (verb). 


Lodge — The corn is 
lodged = The corn is 
laid. [Also in Kent, 
Surrey, Sussex, and 
Westmoreland dia- 
lect.; 


Lazy. 


Stiving. 



GLOSSAR V. 



21 I 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Though bladed corn be 
lodged, and trees, 
<' Macbeth," IV. i. 55. 
Summer's corn by 
tempest lodged, '' 2 
Henry VI.," III. ii. 
176. 

That all the earlings 
which were streaked 
and pied, *' Merchant 
of Venice," I. iii. 80. 



212 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Lard. 


Scam. 


Layer. 


Stelch. 


Large — see Commodi- 
ous, Roomy. 


Roomthy. 


Lean (verb), Incline. 


Teel Teel th' dish 
gainst sock to draw 
— Lean the bowl a- 
gainst the sink to 




drain. 


Lease (verb) — To hire 
or rent. 


Set — I reckon th' ows be 
all set now = I sup- 
pose the house is al- 
ready rented. 


Leaky. 


Giggling— Tha's a gig- 
gling boot = That is a 
leaky boat. 


Leavings — see Rem- 
nants. 


Orts— I don't stan' to 
eat their orts = I don't 
have to eat their leav- 




ings. 



GLOSSARY. 



213 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



The fractions of her 
faith, orts of her love, 
"Troilus and Cres- 
sida," V. ii. 158. Some 
slender ort of his re- 
mainder, " Timon of 
Athens," IV. iii, 400. 
One that feeds on ab- 
jects, orts, and imita- 
tions, " Julius Caesar," 
IV. i. 37. 



214 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Lecherous — see Bedfel- 
low. 

Lechery — see Concupis- 
cence, Amorous. 



Lid. 



Lie (verb) 
down. 



Lifetime. 



To lie 



Lights (the liver and 
lights of a sheep). 

Likely. 



Lilac. 

Litter (noun or verb). 

Live from hand to mouth 
(verb) — To contrive, 
to worry along. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Forum. 



Horning — Alluding to 
cuckolding, mostly. 



Stopliss — a Pwut-lid 
The lid of a pot. 

Lig. 



Puff — I neer seen sich 
things my puff = I 
never have seen the 
like in my lifetime. 

Pluck. 



Like — I was like to fall 
= I was likely to fall. 

Laylock. 

Farry. 

Raggle (or scrabble) — I 
can raggle along=:Ican 
manage to get along. 



GLOSSAR V. 



215 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



'Twas thought you had 
a goodly gift in horn- 
ing, '* Titus and An- 
dronicus," II. iii. 67. 



Ay'U do gud service, or 
ay'll lig i' the grund 
for it, " Henry V.," 
III. ii. 124. 



Used as an adverb con- 
tinually in the plays. 



2l6 



GLOSS A R v. 



VERNACULAR. 



Lively — see Healthy. 

Litter (in the sense of 
Confusion) — see Mess. 

Litter — to bring forth 
young. 



Loaf. 

Lock-keeper (on a canal). 

Log. 

Loiter — To idle, to waste 
time. 



Look (imperative verb). 

Lordling — A young Lord 
or " Boss " — anyone in 
authority; most large- 



WARWICKSHIRE. 

Peart. 

Lagger, or Caddie. 

Kindle. 



Batchling (more prop- 
erly freshly baked 
loaf). 

Rodney. 

Cleft. 

Lobbat— Perhaps from 
Lobby, a loitering 
place. 

Mess — Her's only mess- 
ing about home = She's 
idling or loitering, and 
accomplishing noth- 
ing, about the house. 
A loiterer is a logger- 
head. 

Akere! 

Nab, Nob. My Nabs. 



GLOSSARY. 



217 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



As the cony that you 
see dwell where she 
is kindled, " As You 
Like It," III. ii. 



You loggerheaded and 
unpolished grooms, 
*' Taming of the 
Shrew," IV. i. 28. 



Perhaps we find here an 
early source of the 
very common modern 



2l8 



GLOSSARY 



VERNACULAR. 



ly, if not always, used 
in sarcasm, for an 
intrusively imperious 
person. Perhaps de- 
rived from Neb, a beak 
(of a bird) or promi- 
nent nose on a man — 
see Beak, 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



GLOSSAR V. 



219 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



argot, ''His Nibs," 
applied to a chief, or 
"boss" or superior 
person — anyone in au- 
thority. But the word 
^' Nibs " is so evident- 
ly a corruption of 
Knave, the German 
Knabe — the allusion 
being to the knave in 
the pack of cards 
(called ''the nob " in 
Cribbage) — that the 
forced derivation is 
quite unnecessary. '*I 
would not be Sir Nob 
in any case," says 
Faulconbridge (''King 
John,"!, i. 147). There 
is also the Icelandic 
Snapr, an idiot, ig- 
noramus, and the 
Scotch Snab, a cob- 
bler, which are invidi- 
ous terms. But there 
are, on the other hand, 
those who eschew any 
pedantry at all in the 
matter, and claim that 
" Nob " is simply a 
contemptuous abbre- 
viation of "Noble." 
In Warwickshire the 
phrase is sometimes 



220 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Lonely— Lonesome. 


Unked. 


Look (a glance). 


Flinch. 


Loosened. 


Roxed. 


Long Story. 


Pedigree — I heard old 




pedigree or that this 




day :=: I was told all 




about it at great 




length to-day. 



Lounge (verb). 



Luncheon (especially a 
workman's luncheon). 



Lunge — What's the odds 
if I lunge or kneel? = 
What's the difference 
whether I kneel or 
lean forward on my 
elbows? 



Bait. 



GLOSSAR V. 



221 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




My Nabs— as " I- had 




suspicions as 'e took 




some a thu eggs, so I 




took un 'id [hid] my- 




self in the 'ens'-roost, 




an' I just ketched my 




nabs in thu act." 




Can Oxford, that did 




ever fence the right, 




now buckler falsehood 




with a pedigree? "3 




Henry VI.," III. iii. 




99. 



222 



GLOSSAJ? V. 



VERNACULAR, 



Lurk — to loiter secretly 
— see Loiter — or to 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Mose (perhaps a lack of 
marrow). 



lurk as a disease — see 
Sapless. 




M 






Mad. 




Off is yed~/. <?., off his 
head. 


Magpie. 




Maggit. 


Manage— see Co 


ntrive. 


Raggle—Scrabble. 


Mangle (verb). 




MoUicrush. 


'' Mare's Nest." 




Nothingnest — Ees been 
an fund a nothin' nest, 
is exactly equivalent 
to the proverb, to find 
a mare's nest. 


Market. 




Mop. 


Marriage, A Certificate 
of. 


Lines. 


Married Man, 
Mister. 


A — see 




Marshy (soft, sloppy). 


Flacky. 



GLOSSARY. 



22- 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And like to mose in the 
chine, '' Taming of the 
Shrew," III. ii. 51 
(apt to lurk in the 
spine). 



224 




GLOSSARY. 


VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Mason. 






Massenter. 


May. 






Maun — I maun an' I 
maunt = I may and I 
may not. 


Me. 






'Un — Don't claw 'un = 
Don't flatter me. 


Meadow. 






Lezzow. 


Mean (stin 


gy)- 




Near. 



Medicine — A remedy or 
potion. 



Medlar. 

Meddler — see Busybody. 

Mend, Repair (verb). 



Mess — Disorder, a mud- 
dle, a litter. 



Mid-lent Sunday. 



Doctor's stuff — Phisiken 
stuff — when for ani- 
mals it is drink, or 
drench. 

Open-arse. 



Codge — To mend clothes 
only — but see Miser. 

Dagger — Caddie, Mug- 
ger. 



Mothering Sunday (be- 
cause girls out at ser- 
vice were usually al- 
lowed to spend that 
Sunday at home). 



GLOSSAR V. 



225 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And we have done but 
greenly in hugger- 
mugger to inter him, 
''Hamlet," IV. v. 84. 



226 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Milking (noun). 



Milkteeth. 

Mild (in the sense of 
gentle). 



Miller (keeper of a mill). 

Minnow. 

Miry (sloppy, soft) — see 
Muddy. 

Mix — to mix up, disar- 
range, muddle, or 
(perhaps) neglect. 



Mischievous — see Trou- 
blesome, and distinc- 
tion noted thereun- 
der. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Meal — Cow giv ten 
quarts mawning meal 
= That cow's morn- 
ing milking amounted 
to ten quarts. 

Peggins. 

Cade — A pretty cade 
Jill = a soft, lovable 
girl. 

Millud. 

Soldier. 

Flacky — Slobbery. [Also 
East Norfolkshire.] 

Slobber. 



Miser. 



Anointed, unlucky — 
He's an anointed (or 
unlucky) rascal = He's 
a mischievous rascal 
(innocently mischiev- 
ous) =:Mischiefful; ma- 
liciously mischievous 
is usually gammilts. 

Codger, 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Slobber not business for 
my sake, Gratiano, 



" Merchant of 
ice," II. viii. 39. 



Ven- 



When you shall these 
unlucky deeds relate 
(?), '' Othello," V. ii. 
344. Some ill, un- 
lucky thing, '* Romeo 
and Juliet," V. iii. 

137- 



22< 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Mock — to make derisive 
faces at one. 


Mop an' mow. 


Modest — see Timid. 


Soft — Smock-faced, as 




soft as an empty 
pocket = very timid. 


Mole. 


Oont. 


Money. 


Brass, 


Mortar. 


Grout. 

■ 


Morsel. 


Bittock — Skurruck or 
Scrump, Spot— Hast a 
mossel o' backy? Na, 
lad, I aint got a skur- 
ruck. Gi' me a spot o' 
drink. A spot is per- 
haps a smaller portion 



GLOSSAR Y. 



229 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




Flibbertigibbett of mop- 
ping and mowing, 
"King Lear," IV. i. 

64. 
Each one tripping on 

his toe— will be here 

with mock and moe, 

''Tempest," IV. i. 47. 



Brass, cur! Thou 
damned and luxurious 
mountain cur, offer'st 
me brass? "Henry 
v.," IV. iv. 19. (Pro- 
vide neither gold, nor 
silver, nor brass in 
your purses. Mat. x. 

9) 



230 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




than a skurruck, and 
a skurruck than a bit- 
tock. 


Model. 


Moral — E's the mortal 
moral o's dad = He is 




the very image of his 
father. 


Moment (an instant of 
time). 


Stitchwhile — It takes me 
every stitchv/hile to 
mind the reklin = It 




takes me every mo- 
ment to watch that 
child. 


Moth. 


Hodbowlud. 


Mottled, or pox-marked, 
syn.^ a scurvy fellow. 


Measeled — German 
mase, masel, a speck, 
or knot in trees. 


Move along (verb) — In 
the sense of "Clear 
out," " Be off with 


Budge — Come noo, you 
budge! — Move along 
at once! 


you." 




Mouth. 


Tater-trap. 



GLOSSARY. 



231 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



While thou, a moral fool, 
sitst still, "• Pericles," 
11. i. 39. 



So shall my lungs coin 
words till their decay 
against these measles, 
" Coriolanus," III. i. 
III. 

You shall not budge, 
'' Hamlet," III. iv. 
Must I budge? '' Ju- 
lius Caesar," IV. iii. 
44. I'll not budge an 
inch, '^ Taming of the 
Shrew,"Induction (and 
in severalotherplaces). 



232 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Mouthful — see Expecto- 


Gob. 


rate, Drop. 




Move (verb). 


Rim. 


Moving (to move from 
one house to another). 


Rimming — We be a rim- 
ming o' Monday — 




We move to a new 




house on Monday. 


Move off (imperative). 


Budge. 


Mister (Mr.). 


Master (common to vari- 




ous English dialects) 
— In Sussex it means a 




married man, unmar- 




ried men being ad- 




dressed by their given 




names. 


Mrs. 


Missus. 


Muddy (sloppy). 


Slobbery — [Also East 
Norfolkshire]. 



GLOSSARY. 



233 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Budge, says the fiend, 
Budge not, says my 
conscience, *' Mer- 
chant of Venice," II. 
ii. 20. Must I budge? 
Must I observe you? 
''Julius Caesar," IV. 
iii. 44. 



I will sell my dukedom, 
to buy a slobbery and 
dirty farm, '' Henry 
v.," III. V. 12. 



234 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Muddy (verb) — To soil 
with one's feet. 


Traipse. 


Muffle. 


Buff —To buff the bell = 




to muffle the bell. 


Mug (especially a small 
mug). 


Tot. 


Musical Instrument. 


Music (as applied to all 




instruments alike). 


Must. 


Mun — I mun do it = I 




must do it. 


Mutter, grumble (verb). 


Chaunter. 


N 




Narrow. 


Slang. 


Nasty. 


Frousty. 


Near (personal proxim- 
ity). 


Anigh — Don't come 
anighmei=Don't come 




near me. 


Near (in place or posi- 
tion). 


Agin — He lives just agin 
us = He lives handy 



GLOSSAR V. 



235 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



With musics of all sorts, 
'* All's Well," III. vii. 
40. And let him ply 
his music, '' Hamlet," 
II. i. 75. 



236 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Nearly. 



Neatly (properly). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



to, or handy to us; or, 
He lives near us. 

Handy to — In quantity 
(in the sense of nearly 
equal) — That bit of 
ground is handy to 
twenty pole = That 
piece of land is nearly 
twenty rods long. 

In print — E' potched it 
in print — He piled it 
up neatly. 



Needle. 


Neeld. 


Neighborhood. 


Hereabouts. 


Nervous. 


Pathery. 



GLOSSARY. 



237 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I love a ballad in print 
o' life, '*As You Like 
It," V. iv. 74. I will 
do it, sir, in print, 
** Love's Labor's 
Lost," in. i. 173. 

With her neeld com- 
poses nature's own 
shape, of bud, bird, 
branch, or berry, "Per- 
icles," Gower'to Act 
V. Change their neelds 
to lances, and their 
gentle hearts, " King 
John," V, ii. 152. 

I do remember an apoth- 
ecary, and hereabouts 
he dwells, "Romeo 
and Juliet," V. i. ^^. 



238 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Nestling — An 
bird, a goslir 


unfledged 


Gull. 


Nimble (in the 
deceitful). 


sense of 


Limber. 


Noise — Noisy. 






Blearing, Blunder — Blun- 
dering — H'a done that 
blunderingrrStop that 
noise. 


None — no one. 






Nobody. 


Nonsense. 






Flothery. 


Nostrils. 






Noseholes. 


Nose — (noun). 






Conk. 


Not. 






Na — Used as a suffix, as 
shanna = Shall not. 
Shouldna = Should not. 
Doesna = Does not. 
Hadna = Had not. 
Wouldna (sometimes 
wotna) = Would not, 
etc. 


Not (is not). 






Yent — He yent yourn = 
He is not yours. 


Not (not so mi] 


ch 


as). 


Noways — Her's never 



GLOSSAK V. 



239 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Lord Timon will be left 
a naked gull, '' Timon 
of Athens," II. i. 31. 

Put me off with limber 
vows, ''Winter's 
Tale," I. ii. 47- 

(The word ''blunder" 
does not occur in the 
plays or poems in any 
sense whatever.) 

Nerrun. 



240 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR, 



Noted — see Celebrated. 



Notions — see Whim. 



Notorious. 



Nudge (verb^ — To touch 
with the elbow. 

Numerous (any large 
number). 



Nursed (a female 
nursed by her young). 



Oaf — see Clown. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



(or noways) a bonnet=: 
She has not so much as 
a bonnet. 

Deadly — He's deadly for 
church-goings He is 
noted for church- 
going. 

Megrims — It's a pity she 
do take such megrims 
into her head=:It's a 
pity she has such 
notions. 

Nineted — a ninety-bird 
is a notorious scamp 
or scoundrel. 

Dunch. 



A sight of — There was a 
sight of people = There 
were a great many 
people. 



Lugged. 



Yawrups. 



GLOSSAR y. 



241 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I am as melancholy as a 
gib cat or a lugged bear. 
''iHenry VL,"I.ii.34. 



242 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Oats. 


Wuts. 


Obeisance — see Curtsey. 


Obedience. 


Obstinate — see Head- 
strong. 


Awkward — A Standy — 
A standy=:an obsti- 
nate person. 


Occasion (a pretext). 


Call — He han't no call to 
do it = He has no pre- 
text for doing it. 


Odds and ends — see 
Rubbish. 


Bits and bobs. 


Of. 


In or on — They be just 
come out in school — 
They have just come 
out of school. 


Offal. 


Sock, Pelf (vegetable). 


Often — (as often as 
necessary). 


Every hands while. 



GLOSSARY. 



243 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Twice by awkward 
wind from England 
Drove back again, 
'*2 Henry VL," III. ii. 
83. 'Tis no sinister nor 
no awkward claim. 
^'Hcnry V.,"II. iv.85. 



Many thousand on us. 
''Winter's Tale." 

Would I were fairly 
out on't. , ''Henry 
v.," in. He cannot 
come out on's grave, 
"Macbeth." 



244 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Often. 


Many a time and oft. 


Once. 


Aince — Aince a whiles = 
Once in a while. 


One-eyed. 


Gunner. 


Open (verb, imperative, 
in the sense of un- 
fasten) or, possibly, to 
open and sliut — see 
Shut. 


Dup — Dup the door — 
Unfasten the door. 


Opportunity. 


Chancet. 


Opposite (in place). 


Anant — He lives anant 
here=He lives oppo- 
site, or across the road 
from here. 


Opposite. 


Annenst. 


Oration, or Narration. 


Preachment. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



245 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Signor Antonio, many a 
time and oft, on the 
Rialto, have you rated 
me, *^ Merchant of 
Venice." Many a time 
and oft have you 
cHmbed up to walls, 
** Julius Caesar," I. i. 
42. 



And dupped the chamber 
door, ''Hamlet," IV. 
V. 53- 



And make a preachment 



246 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Ordinary. 




Arnary — in the Western 
United States ''or- 
nery." 


Ordural, a privy. 




Dunnekin. 


Ornament (verb), 
decorate. 


See 


Dizzen. Tiddivate. — 'O, 
'e's gwun a-kwcrtin', 
I ricken, fur 'e put 
on 'is tuther 'at un 
coowut, un tiddi- 
vated hisself up a 
bit.' 


Ours. 




Ourn. 


Ourselves. 




Oursens. 


Outlook, Prospect. 




Look-out. 


Overbearing. 




Masterful. 


Overcome — (in the sense 
of survive, *'get over 
the effect of.") 


Overgo, or overget— I 
shan't overget it = I 
shall not get over the 
effects of it. 


Over-ripe. 




Roxy. 



GLOSSAR v. 



Ml 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



of your high descent. 
"3 Henry VI.," I. iv. 
172. 



Overgo thy plaints and 
drown. " Richard 

III.,"II. ii. 61. 



248 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


P 






Pail, Bucket. 




Piggin. 


Painful. 




Teart — The wind's teart 
this mawnin = The 
wind is painfully sharp 
this morning. 


Pale (see wan). 




Wanny. 


Paltry, insignificant, 
worth mentioning 


not 


Nigglin, Picksniff. 


Pant (verb). 




Pantle. 


Pansy (the wild variety). 


Love-in-idleness. 


Parish. 




Field— That bit lies in 
Alkerton field r=:That 
land is in Alkerton 
parish. [Also in York- 
shire and several other 
dialects.' 


Part (verb) — To 
company, depart, s 
rate. 


part 
epa- 


Shog off—We'll shog off 
m We'll part company 
now and journey to- 
gether no further. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



249 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And maidens call it 
love in idleness. — 
** Midsummer Night's 
Dream," II. i. 169, 



Shog off. I would have 
you solus, "Henry 
v.," II. i. 48. Shall we 
shog? "Henry V.," 
II. iii. 48. 



250 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Particular. 


Choice — He's very 
choice over his victuals 
= He's very particular 
as to what he eats. 


Parsley (and umbellifer- 
ous plants generally). 


Kex or kecks. 


Part company. See sepa- 
rate. 


Shog. 


Passage. 


Chewer — Her lives up 
the chewer=She lives 




in a narrow passage. 


Passionate. 


Franzy — the master's 
such a terrible franzy 
man — The master is a 




very passionate man. 


Pasture. 


Lay — A small pasture is 
a Donkey Bite. 


Pasturage. 


Joisting — What must I 
pay for this joisting= 
What must I pay for 
this pasturage. 


Peacod (unripe). 


Squash. 



GLOSSAR V. 



251 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Shall we shog? * ' Henry 
v.," II. iii. 48. 



How like methought I 
was to this kernel, 
This squash, ''Win- 
ter's Tale," I. ii. As 
a squash is before a 



2K2 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Pea-Finch. 


Picod. 



Peaked (see 
pinched, wan). 

Pebble. 

Peck. 



pale, Picked— -(Pronounced as 
a dissyllable). 



Pibble. 
Stock. 



Peculiarities 


(see 


no- 


Megrims — She has her 


tions, whim). 




own megrims — She has 








her own notions or 








peculiarities. 


Peevish. 






Frecket — A's got 'er 
frecket frock on=she 
is peevish. 


Pedlar. 






Heggler. 


Peep (verb). 






Peek. 


Peevish. 






Purgy. 


Pendulum. 






Pendle. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



25. 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



peascod, ** Midsum- 
mer Night's Dream," 
I. V. 166, Idem, III. 
i. 191. 



What need a man for a 
stock with a wench, 
''Two Gentlemen of 
Verona," III. i. 311. 



254 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Perfect (verb) — in the 
sense of put into good 
order — good condi- 
tion. 


Fettle. 


Perhaps. 


Happen — Happen it '11 be 
a long time = Perhaps 
it will be a long time. 


Perplex. 


Mither. 


Perspiration — Sweat. 


Muck. 


Piecemeal, Piecework or 
Stint. 


Grit— To do work by the 
grit=To do work little 
by little. 


Persuade. 


Hamper. 


Pet, a fit of passion. 


Fantey. 


Pickle, Preserve (verb). 


Maislin. 


Pig. 


Shug. 


Pilfer. 


Couge. 


Pimple, boil, pustule. 


Quat. 



GLOSSARY. 



255 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS, 



Fettle your fine joints 
'gainst Thursday next, 
'* Romeo and Juliet," 
III. V. 152. 



She'll hamper thee and 
dandle thee like a 
baby, "2 Henry VI.," 
I. iii. 148. 



I have rubbed this young 
quat, almost to the 
sense, "Othello," V. 
i. II. 



256 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Pinafore, see Apron. 


Pinny. 


Piebald. 


Skewebald. 


Pinch. 


Pinse. 


Pincers. 


Pinsens. 


Pitchfork. 


Shuppick. 


Pinched (attenuated or 
emaciated, sickly, un- 
healthy looking). See 
Healthy. 


Picked — Pronounced as 
a dissyllable. A weak, 
sickly-looking child is 
a scribe, as opposed to 
a rile, a healthy-look- 
ing child. 


Pity, or shame (in the 
sense of "too bad"). 


Poor tale — It's a poor 
tale ye couldn't come 




= It's a pity you 
couldn't come. 


Plenitude (see below). 




Plentiful. 


Don't share. 


Plenty of — plenitude 
(see Frequent). 

« 


Old — There's been old 
work to-day = There's 
been plenty of work 
to-day. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



257 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I Leave your desires, and 
fairies will not pinse 
you, " Merry Wives of 
Windsor," V. v. 137. 



By the mass, here will be 
old Utis (a plentiful or 
extraordinary celebra- 
tion of any festival. 
Utis is the octave of 



2S8 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Pliant, supple (in sense 


Limber. 


of insincere). 




Plover. 


Bennet. 


Plummet. 


Pline, or Plumbob, to 
make anything plumb 
is to pline it. 


Posts. 


Posses, Edge — Posses = 
Hedge posts. 


Potatoes. 


Spuds. 


Pothook. 


Crow. 


Pound, to belabor — 
(verb). 


Pun — Leather — Quilt — 
A'll pun — or leather, 
or quilt 'un = I will 
thrash him. 


Pout (verb), see Peev- 
ish. 


Glout or glump. 



GLOSSARY. 



259 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



i any feast), ** 2 Henry 
I IV.," II. iv. 21. Ven- 
der's old coil at home 
(/. e., Plenty of trouble 
orconfusion), ''Much 
Ado about nothing." 
V. ii. 98. 

Vou put me off with 
limber vows, "Win- 
ter's Tale," I. ii. 47- 



He would pun him into 
shivers with his fist. 
** Troilus and Cres- 
sida," II. i. 42. 



26o 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Precocious, Bright. 



Prevalent. 



Pride — courageous, see 
Proud. 



Private Entrance, side- 
door. 

Pregnant. 



Presently. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Fierce, of a very young 
child — or infant. 

Brief — The fever's brief 
now = The fever is 
prevalent at present. 



Stomachfulness, 



Foredraft. 



Childing. Hers child- 
ing=She is pregnant. 



Awhile — I'll do it pres- 
ently — To do a thing 
presently, in the sense 
of as soon as evening 



GLOSSARY. 



261 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



A thousand businesses 
are brief in hand, 
''King John," IV. iii. 
158. 

That furious Scot can 
vail his stomach, 
"2 Henry IV.," I. i. 
129. Which raised in 
me an undergoing 
stomach to bear up, 
" Tempest," I. ii. 157. 
They have only stom- 
achs to eat and none 
to fight, "Henry v.," 
in. vii. 166. He was 
a man of unbound- 
ed stomach, "Henry 
VIII.," IV. ii. 3. 



The childing autumn — 
"Midsummer Night's 
Dream," II. ii. 112. 

In such passages as the 
following, — " Soon at 
five o'clock I'll meet 
with you," (" Com. of 



262 



GLOSSAA'V. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



comes, appears on 
good authority to be 
to do a thing soon. 



GLOSSAR V. 



263 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Errors," I. ii. 26); 
** Soon at supper shalt 
thou see Lorenzd," 
(^'Mer. of Ven.," II. 
iii. 5); *' Come to me 
soon at after supper," 
("Rich. III.," IV. iii. 
31); '' You shall bear 
the burden soon at 
night," ("Romeo and 
Juliet," II. V. 78); 
"We'll have a posset 
for 't soon at night," 
("Merry Wives," I. 
iv. 8), and a dozen 
more, it is evident that 
" soon " has other 
meaning than "in a 
short time." Antipho- 
lus bids his servant go 
to the inn. 

"The Centaur, where we hist, 
And stay there, Dromio, till I 

come to thee ; 
Within this hour it will be 

dinner time." 

He then invites his 
friend, the First Mer- 
chant, to dinner: 

"What, will you walk with me 

about the town, 
And then go to my inn, and 

dine with me ? " 



264 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



GLOSSAR V. 



265 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



To which the Merchant 
replies: 

" I am invited, sir, to certain 

merchants, 
Of whom I hope to make much 

benefit ; 
I crave your pardon. Soon at 

five o'clock, 
Please you, I'll meet with you 

upon the mart. 
And afterward consort you till 

bed-time." 

Now, bearing in mind 
that noon is the uni- 
versal dinner-hour in 
Shakespeare, six hours 
must intervene ere 
they meet again, which 
could hardly be called 
"soon." An examina- 
tion of the other pas- 
sages will present the 
same inconsistency. 
Halliwell's "Diction- 
ary of Archaic and 
Provincial Words " 
tells us that in the 
West of England the 
word still signifies 
"evening"; and Mr. 
Laughlin says that Gil, 
a contemporary of 
Shakespeare, a head- 
master of St. Paul's 



266 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Prevent, Hinder, Post- 
pone. 



Produce, induce — see In- 
duce, Reason. 

Probabilities. 



Procrastination, Delay. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Backer — This coowd '11 
backer 'is coomin = 
This cold weather will 
prevent (or postpone) 
his arrival. 

Kindle. 



Lections — There be no 
lections o' rain=there 
is no probability of its 
raining. 

Burning daylight. 



GLOSSAR V. 



267 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



School, declares that 
the use of ** soon " as 
an adverb, in the 
familiar sense of ''be- 
times," " by and by," 
or ''quickly," had, 
when he wrote, been 
eclipsed with most men 
by an acceptation re- 
stricted to " night- 
fall." 



We burn daylight! here 
read! read! read! 
"Merry Wives of 
Windsor," 11. i. 59. 
Come, we burn day- 
light, " Romeo and 
Juliet," I, iv. 43. 



268 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Prolific. 


Kind — also perhaps the 
word has come to be 
used in the sense of 




easy virtue. 


Prod, Poke, with a stick 
or sword. 


Bodge. 
Job. 


Properly. 


A'Form (pronounced 
faum) — We sing it 
a'form == We sing it 




properly. 


Prophecy. 


Forecast. 


Prodigal, carelessly. 


Random. 


Prosecute. 


Persecute— He was per- 
secuted for larceny=: 
He was prosecuted for 
larceny. 



GLOSSARY. 



269 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Is she kind as she is 
fair? For beauty lives 
by kindness, ''Two 
Gentlemen of Ver- 
ona," IV. ii. 44. Your 
cuckoo sings by kind, 
"All's Well that Ends, 
Well," I. iii. 67. In 
doing the deed of kind, 
"Merchant of Ven- 
ice." I. iii. 86. 



Alas that Warwick had 
no more forecast, 
"3 Hen. VI.," V. 7. 

The great care of goods 
at Random left, 
" Comedy of Errors," 
I. i. 43. 



270 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Prospect, outlook. 
Prosperous. 

Prosperously. 



Protected (see Shelter- 
ed). 

Proud — see Stalk. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Provide (verb). Also in 



Lookout. 

Smartish (adjective and 
adverb). 

I'm getting on smartish 

= 1 am prospering (or 

doing well). 
Un's smartish a'day=: 

He is prosperous at 

present. 

Burrowed. 



Flash, stomachful. 



Forecast — He forecast it 



GLOSSARY, 



271 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Stomach is used for 
Pride frequently in the 
plays, and the two 
meanings of the word 
are employed con- 
stantly for puns: To 
some enterprise that 
hath a stomach in 't, 
'' Hamlet," I. i. 100. 
He was a man of an 
unbounded stomach, 
''Henry VHI.," IV. 
ii. 34. They have only 
stomachs to eat and 
none to fight, '' Henry 
v.," in. vii. 166. 



272 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


sense of foresee. 
Which see. 


= He provided for it 
beforehand. 


Provoke (verb). 
Tempest 


See 


Urge — That 'oman do 
urge me so = That wo- 
man always provokes 
me. 


Provoked. 




Mad as mad. 


Pry (verb). 




Brevitt — I've brevitted 
thraow all them drahrs 
an' I caunt find 'im. 
' E'l get nuthin' from 
we, it's uv no use far 
*im to come brevittin' 
about ower place. 


Pry (verb). 




Toot. 


Pudding or Dough. 




Duff. 


Pull. 




Pug. 


Pummel (verb). See 
labor. 


Be- 


Pun. 


Punishment. 




Piff. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



273 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Urge not my father's 
anger, '* Two Gent, 
of Verona," IV. iii. 
27. 

How canst thou urge 
God's dreadful, ''Rich- 
ard III.," I. iv. 214. 



Doth set my pugging 
tooth on edge, ''Win- 
ter's Tale," IV. iii. 7. 



274 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Purveyor. 



Push — syn. a hint, a 
nudge with the elbow. 



Put on airs (verb). 



Put out. 
Shut. 



See Embarrass. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Pantler. 



Gird— Potch. 



Jets— A' jets = He is put- 
ting on airs; assuming 
too much. 



Dout — Pronounced Doot 
to rhyme with boot. 
See Holofernes ridi- 
cules Armado for 
speaking Doubt fine to 
rhyme with oot, and 
debt d-e-t. — ''Love's 
Labor's Lost," VI. i. 
1 8. 



GLOSSAR y. 



275 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



She was both pantler, 
butler, cook, '' Win- 
ter's Tale," IV. ix. 67. 
Would have made a 
good pantler. A' would 
ha' chipped bread well, 
''2 Henry IV.," II. iv, 
258. 

I thank thee for that 
gird, good Tranio, 
"Taming of the 
Shrew," V. ii. 58, I'll 
potch at him, some 
way, or wrath or craft 
may get him, '* Corio- 
lanus," I, X. 65, 

How he jets under his 
advantage, ''Twelfth 
Night," II. V. 36, That 
giants may jet, "Cym- 
beline," III.iii.5, 

And dout them with 
superfluous courage, 
"Henry V.," IV, ii. 
II. The dram of eale 
that doth the noble 
substance often dout, 
"Hamlet," I. iv. 36. 
I have a speech of fire 
that fain would blaze 
But that his folly douts 



276 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Q 




Quality. 


Hit — A good hit 0' grout 




=:A good quality of 




mortar. 


Quarrel (verb). 


Square — Cagmag — They 




be a squarein', or they 




be cagmaggin' = They 




are quarreling. 


Quantity — a large quan- 


Power — Power ov megs 


tity. 


= A large quantity of 




half pence. 


Quick, in the sense of 


Ready — A's ready = I am 


active. 


active, and equal to 




the job. 


Quickly, in the Impera- 


Straight— Do 't straight 


tive. See Instantly. 


=:Go ahead at once 




with it. 



GLOSSAR V. 



277 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



it, '< Hamlet," IV. vii. 
192. 



Make her grave 
straight, "Hamlet," 
V. i. 3, is a direc- 
tion to make the grave 
properly, /. <?. , east and 
west— as in Christian 
burial — and not, as it 
is sometimes con- 
strued — a direction 
to proceed hurriedly. 
The grave-diggers in 
that scene evidently do 
not hurry themselves. 



27S 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 




AVARWICKSHIRE. 


Quittance — Riddance. 




Shut on — Ee had my 
shut on scrumpsrrl 
have got rid of my 
apples. 


R 






Ragged. 




All of a jilt — My muck- 
ender'sallof a jilt = my 
handkerchief is rag- 
ged. 


Rain (verb). 




Scud. 


Rainstorm. 




Tempest. 


Raise (verb). 




Higher — Higher that 
line = Raise that rope. 


Ram (hence a verb — to 
ram — to get with foal). 


Tup. 


Rancid. 




Raisty. 



GLOSSARY. 



279 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Wreck to the seaman, 
tempest to the field, I. 

453- 



Between them from the 
tempest of my eyes, 
" Midsummer Night's 
Dream," I. i. 131. 
Such crimson tempest 
should bedrench the 
fresh green lap, 
•' Richard II.," I. iii. 
187. 

We '11 higher to the 
mountains, there se- 
cure us, ''Cymbe- 
Hne," IV. iv. 8. 

An old black ram is tup- 
ping your white ewe, 
''Othello," I. i. 89. 



2»0 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Rascal — usually a man 
or woman, inclined to 
be malicious but stu- 
pid. 

Rascal— a stupid rascal. 



Ravelings. 
Raveled. 



Ready. 



Reaching. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Loon. 



Loon or lown. 



Rovings. 

Sally (as the end of a 
rope which has become 
unwound), or gagged 
condition of any tex- 
tile fabric. 

Fit — Af the best fit we 
'11 roout a moore a' 
these spuds = If you 
are ready we will weed 
a few more of these 
potatoes. 



Going in — Ees goin* in 
twelves He is reach- 
ing his twelfth year. 



GLOSSAR V. 



281 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




Thou cream-faced loon, 




''Macbeth," V. iii. 11. 




The devil dam thee 




black, thou creamfaced 




loon, "Macbeth," V. 




iii. II. With that he 




called the tailor lown. 




"Othello," II. iii. 95. 




We should have both 




lord and lown, " Peri- 


* 


cles," IV. vi. 19. 




Tell Valeria we are fit 




to bid her welcome. 




" Coriolanus," I. iii. 




46. Fit for treasons, 




stratagems, and spoils. 




"Merchant of Ven- 




ice," VI. 85. 



2b2 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Reason — for doing any- 
thing (pretext). 



Rebound. 

Rebuke. 
Reproof- 



see Snub. 



Reference^ — as to char- 
acter. 



Refined— see Gentle, Re- 
spectable. 

Regret — something to be 
regretted. See Pity. 

Refuse— see Rubbish. 

Remain (verb). Also in 
the imperative, wait. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Kindle — 'Eed no Kindle 
to do it=:He had no 
reason for doing it. 

Rear. 

Miss-word, Snape or 
Sneap — Word-of-a-sort 
— Bide till I see my 
Knaaps, I'l giv 'im 
word of a sort = Wait 
until I meet my young 
man, I'll reprove him 
(or snub him). 

Character — A' took 'er 
wi* out a character^: 
I took her without any 
reference as to her 
character. 

Still— Es a still 'un = He 
is a gentleman. 

Poor tale. 



Rammel. 

Bide— We'll bide here = 
We'll wait here. Bide 
where you be = Remain 
where you are. [In 
all English dialects.] 



GLOSSAR V. 



283 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Very common in the 
plays. Also in the 
Scriptures. Bide not 
in unbelief, Romans 
xi. 25. In the sense 



284 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Remember (verb). See 
Remind. 



Remnants (see Leav- 
ings). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Mind me — Common to 
almost all English dia- 
lects. 

Orts. 



Remind. 



Resentment. To bear 
a grudge for past 
wrongs (see Remind). 



Remember. 



Reap at — A's reapin' it 
up agin unrrrHe bears 
me a grudge yet. 



GLOSSARY. 



285 



VEx\US AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



of hide it is used 
once in the poems, 
viz., in " The Lover's 
Complaint," 2>Z. 



In addition to the exam- 
ples cited infra^ un- 
der Leavings, see 
" Merry Wives of 
Windsor," L i. 232, 
where Parson Evans 
tries to play upon the 
word as meaning a 
mental reservation. 
"It is a fery discre- 
tion answer: save the 
fall is in the ort disso- 
lutely; the ort is, ac- 
cording to our mean- 
ing, resolutely." 

I'll not remember you 
of my own lord who 
is lost too, ** Winter's 
Tale," III. ii. 231. 



286 



GLOSSARY, 



VERNACULAR. 



Rent (see Leases). 
Resemble. 



Respectable, 



Reserved (see Proud). 
Restrain (verb). 



Revenge (verb). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Favor — -He favors his 
father=:He resembles 
his father.* 

Common to many Eng- 
lish dialects, and a 
proper word in the 
vernacular. 

Still — He's a still, quiet 
man = He's a respecta- 
able, refined (orgentle- 
manly mannered) man. 

Stomachful. 

Keep — He cannot keep 
hisselfrriHe cannot re- 
strain himself. 



Even up. 



Rheum — cold in the Sneke — A raw, chilly day 
head. i liable to give one a 



* In Yorkshire the dialect word is Breeds. She breeds with 
her mother, means she resembles her mother. Sometimes pro- 
nounced braid. " She speaks, and 'tis such sense my sense 
breeds with it." — "Measure for Measure," II. ii. 142. 



GLOSSARY. 



287 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And the complexion of 
the element. In fa- 
vour's like the work 
we have in hand, 
"Julius Caesar," 1. 
iii. 129. 



O, 'tis a foul thing when 
a cur cannot keep him- 
self, " Two Gent, of 
Verona," IV. 14. 

I will be even with thee, 
doubt it not, ''Antony 
and Cleopatra," III. 
vii. I. 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Rheumatism. 



Rick frame— The frame- 
work on which the 
ricks are placed. 

Rickety. 

Rid (verb par.), to be 
rid of. 



Riddle. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



cold in the head is a 
Snekey day! 

Rheumatics, Rheumatiz 
— If in a single limb it 
is rheumatiz — If all 
over the body it is 
rheumatics. 

Staddle. 



Shacklety. 

Shut on— I was glad to 
be shut on she=I was 
glad to be rid of 
her. 



Riddliss. 



Rinse (verb) — To bathe j Swill, 
or submerge. 



Ripened. 



Roxed. 



GLOSSARY. 



289 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Swills your warm blood 
like wash, and makes 
his trough, "Richard 
III.," V. ii. 9. A 
galled rock — swilled 
with the wild and 
wasteful ocean, 
"Henry V.," III. i. 
12. 



290 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Road. 




Ride — Especially a new 
road cut through a 
wood. 


Roar (verb). 




Belluck. 


Robin. 




Bobby. 


Robin — or perhaps a 
goldfinch. 


Tailor. 


Rod (used for 
in schools). 


correction 


Vester (evident mispro- 
nunciation of "Dus- 
ter.") 


Rogue. 




Scruff. 


Romping. 




Pulley-hawley. 


Rook. 




Crow. 


Roomy. 




Roomthy. 


Rough grass. 




Couchgrass, or Fog. 


Rough (in behavior). 


Lungerous. 


Row — (a quarrel). See 
Scrimmage. 


Work. 


Rubbish — see 


Litter. 


Mullock. 



GLOSSARY 



291 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I will not sing. 'Tis the 
next best way to turn 
tailor or redbreast 
teacher, " 2 Henry 
IV.," III. i. 126. 



292 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Ruin — to destroy. 


Ruinate — Ruination — 
Any structure out of 
repair is schlackety. 


Ruin — Destroy. 


Rid. 


Rush. 


Yerk. 


Russet apple. 


Leather coat. 


Rustle (noun). 


Fidther — Any slight 
sound, as of a mouse. 


S 




Saddler. 


Whittaw. 



Same. 



Sapling — see Slender, 
Delicate. 

Sapless, dead (for a 
plant) — syn. worth- 
less. '^ 

Sated (satisfied with 
food). 



A' one — It's a' one = It's 
all the same thing. 

Wimbling, or Wimpling. 



Dadocky, Mozey, Meas- 
ley — see Mose under 
Lurk. 

Ched. 



GLOSSAR V. 



293 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I will not ruinate thy 
father's house, "Hen- 
ry VII." 

The red plague rid you, 
" Tempest," I. ii. 364. 

Their steeds yerk out 
their armed heels, 
"Henry V." 

Here is a dish of leather 
coats for you, ^'2 
Henry IV.," V. iii. 44. 



294 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Satiety — a plenitude or 
abundance of any- 
thing. See Frequent, 
Plenty of, Abundance. 

Satisfy. 



Saturated. 



Saucy (pert). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Old. 



Swagger — You was want- 
ing to see some big 
dahlias, come into my 
garden, an' I'll swag- 
ger ye = I will satisfy 
you if you will step 
into my garden. 

Watched — A person who 
has been out in the 
rain or has fallen into 
the river, and so is 
wet through, is said to 
be " watched." 



Canting — She's a canting 
wench = She's a saucy 
girl. 



Saw — perfect of verb to See — I never see she = 
see. I never saw her. [Not 

peculiar to Warwick- 
shire.] 



GLOSSARY. 



295 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



If wet through = satu- 
rated, and saturated^ 
sated, this is proba- 
bly the meaning in 
which the word 
** watched " is used by 
Pandarus when he ex- 
claims, You must be 
watched ere you be 
made tame, must you? 
"Troilus and Cres- 
sida," III. ii. 42. 



296 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Scaffolding — in building- 
houses. 

Scanty — see short. 



Scarecrow — an unsightly 
or grotesque object. 



Settlas. 



Cop, cob, cobby — A cob- 
loof=:A very small or 
stumpy loaf. 



Moikin or Malkin. 



Scarecrow — a dummy to Crowkeeper. 
scare crows. 



Scarecrows. 



Bugs— Mawkin. 



GLOSSAR y. 



297 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



In " Troilus and Cres- 
sida," II. i. 41, Ajax 
calls Thersites a cob- 
loaf, /. e.^ a small loaf. 

A malkin not worth the 
time of day, " Peri= 
cles," IV. iii. 34. The 
kitchen malkin pins 
her richest lokram 
'bout her reechy neck, 
'* Coriolanus," II. i. 
224. 

Scaring the ladies like a 
crow-keeper, '* Romeo 
and Juliet," I. iv. 6. 
That fellow handles 
his bow like a crow- 
keeper, " King Lear," 
IV. vi. 88. 

Fright boys with bugs, 
"Taming of the 
Shrew," I. ii. 182. The 
bug which you would 
fright me with, I seek, 
"Winter's Tale," III. 
ii. 113. (So yt thou 
shalt not need to be 
afraid of any bugges 



298 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Scavenger (for night- 
soil). See Excrement. 


Gold-digger. 


Scold — a female of vio- 


Mankind witch. 


lent temper. 




Scold (verb). 


Scog— To get a scoggin' 
= To get a scolding. 


Scorn. 


Scowl 0' brow. 


Scrape (verb). See 
Grate. 


Race. 


Scraps (especially what 


Scratching. 


is left in lard boiling). 




Scratch (verb). 


Skant — He skanted it= 




He scratched it. 


Scratch out — to erase. 


Scrat — Don't scrat me = 




Don't erase my name. 


Scrimmage. 


Work — What work then 
was up there=:What a 




scrimmage then was up 
there. 


Scratch (verb or noun). 


Scawt, Scrattle — To 




graze is to scradge, 



GLOSSAR V. 



299 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



by night, nor for 
ye arrow that flyeth 
by dav, Coverdale's 
Translation, Ps. XCI.) 



A mankind witch — hence 
with her, ** Winter's 
Tale," II. iii. 67. 



300 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Scrutinize. Examine 
carefully (verb), im- 
perative. 

Season (a short duration 
of time). 



Skulk — see Lurk. 
See-saw. 
Seat (settee). 
Second-rate — poor. 
Separate — see Part. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



doubtless another pro- 
nunciation of this same 
word. 

Eyepiece— Eyepiece this 
= Examine this care- 
fully. 

Bout — He's had a bout 
o' drinking—He'sbeen 
drunk for some time. 



Weigh-jolt. 

Settle. 

Keffle. 

As where two have been 
journeying together. 

We must be shogging 
now=We must sepa- 
rate now. 

Shog off now=:Go your 
ways and let me go 
mine. 

[Also in various other 
dialects. * Is also used 



* In Yorkshire dialect the peasant would say, " Go your gate," 
or " get out o' my gate." And in the plays, this Yorkshire word 
is employed. " If he had not been in drink he would have tickled 
you other gates than he did." — " Twelfth Night," \^ i. 185. 



GLOSSARY. 



301 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Shog off now, "Henry 
v.," II. i. 48. Shall 
we shog? Idem, III. 
48. 



302 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 






in Wyclif's translation 
of the Bible.; 


Senses. 




Sinks— *Ees out o's sinks 
= He is out of his 
senses. 


Sermon. 




Sarmint. 


Shabby — shabbily 
dressed, See Slattern. 


Scribe. 


Shafts (of a v/agon). 




Tills. 


Shallow. 




Flew. 


Sharpen (verb). 




Keen. 


Sharper (a cunning, 
ceitful person). 


de- 


File. 


Sheath. 




Share — The short wood- 
en sheath stuck in the 
waistband to rest one 
of the needles in whilst 
knitting. Hence plow- 
share. 


She (nominative ( 
feminine). 


:ase 


Her. 



Shear (verb). 



Daggle — Especially to 



GLOSSARY. 



Z02, 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



304 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 








shear around a sheep's 
tail. Dag locks are 
the bits of wool cut off 
around the tail stump. 


Shed — or the 
wing of, or 
to a house. 


addition, 
extension 


Lean to. 


Sheep. 






Ship— The ship be dag- 
gled=:Sheep are com- 
pletely sheared. (Even 
the dag-locks around 
their tails cut off.) 


Shiftless. 






Whip-stitch (pron. per- 
haps whipster). 


Shiftless. 






Slip string. 


Shiver—Tremble with 
cold. 


Dither— also Ditter. 


Sheltered— 
from the 


-Protected (as 
weather). 


Burrow — It's burrow as 
burrow here = It's very 
sheltered here. 


Shoes. 






Shoon [in other dialects; 
also, a common dia- 
lect plural, as housen 
for houses, hosen for 
stockings or socks". 



GLOSSARY. 



305 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I am not valiant neither, 
but every puny whip- 
ster gets my sword, 
"Othello," V. ii. 244. 



Spare none but such as 
go in clouted shoon, 
'*2 Henry VL," IV. 
ii. 195. 

By his cockle hat and 



3o6 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Shirt. 



Shopworn — Worn 
See To wear out. 



out. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Shift — Also used as a 
verb. To change one's 
Iinen = To shift one's 
self. 



Braid, braided. 



Short. 



Cob, cop, or cobby, ^. g.^ 
cop nuts = very small 



GLOSSAR Y. 



307 



VENUS AND ADON'IS. 



PLAYS. 



Staff and his sandall 
shoon, "Hamlet," IV. 
V. 26. 

Sir, I would advise you 
to shift a shirt. — 
'^Cymbeline," I. ii. i. 

If my shirt were bloody 
then to shift it.—Id. 6. 

Taught me to shift into 
a madman's rags. — 
''Lear," V. iii. 186. 

The rest of thy low 
countries have made 
a shift to eat up thy 
holland. — **2 Henry 
IV.," II. ii. 25. 

Has he any un-braided 
wares?— ''The Win- 
ter's Tale," V. iv. 201. 

'Twould braid yourself 
too near for me to tell 
it.—*' Pericles," I. i. 

93- 
Since Frenchmen are so 

braid — marry who will, 

I'll live and die a 

maid!—" All's Well 

that Ends Well," IV. 

ii- 73- 

Ajax calls Thersites 
"Cob-loaf!"— "Troil- 



3o8 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Short. 

Shout — Shriek (verb). 
Shovel — Spade. 
Showery— Drizzling. 



Showery weather — see 
Rainstorm. 



Shuffle— to drag 
self along. 



one s 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



or stumpy nuts, with 
very minute or innu- 
tritious kernels; any- 
thing small or stunted. 

Breff. 



Bellock, blart. 

Shool. 

Dampin' — It's rather 
dampin* to-day = It's a 
rather showery day. 

Falling-weather. 



Hockle, or hotchle. 



GLOSSAR V. 



309 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



US and Cressida," II. 
i. 41. 



That is thebreff and the 
long of it, ''Henry 
v.," III. ii. 126. 



The simile of falling 
for lowering, cloudy, 
rainy weather is not 
uncommon in the 
plays. 

Contagious fogs, which 
falling in the land, 
" Midsummer Night's 
Dream," II. i. 90. 

My cloud of dignity is 
held from falling with 
so weak a wind, 
"2 Henry VL," IV. 
V. 100. 



3IO 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Shut — probably in sense 
of ''open and shut." 


Dup. 


Skittles. 


Loggats. 


Slender — see Sapling. 


Wimpled. 


Shriveled. 


Corky. 


Sickly person. See 
Baby. 


Wratch or scribe, or (if 
a child) dilling. 


Sigh (verb). 


Sithe. 


Side door — Private en- 


Foredraft. 


trance. 




Simpleton. See Idiot, 
Fool. 


Attwood — Soft Sammy, 
clouter-headed, fat- 




headed, jolt-headed, 




or jolter-headed. 


Since. 


Sen. 


Sink, Cesspool. 


Gubbon hole. 



GLOSSAR V. 



311 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Then up he rose and 
donn'd his clothes and 
dupp'd the chamber 
door, ''Hamlet," IV., 
V. 53. 

But to play at logg'ats 
with, "Hamlet," V. 
i. 100. 



Ingrateful fox! Bind 
fast his corky arms, 
" King Lear," HI. vii. 
29. 



Fie on thee, jolthead! 
thou canst not read, 
" Two Gentlemen of 
Verona," III. i. 200. 



312 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Skein. 



Sing, singing— applied 
to a bird or animal. 



Sink — To droop or be- 
come tired. 



Slate. 

Slattern — hence, some- 
times, old clothes, foul 
linen, etc. 



Slatternly. See Slattern. 
Sleepy. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Slice. 



Boltom — It's all of a 
robble like a boltom 
o' yarn 1= It's all tan- 
gled up like a skein of 
yarn. 

Whistle— The whistling 
thrusher=A singing 
thrush. 

Sagg — She be sagged 
out = She is drooping 
with weariness. 



Slat. 

Datchet, dotcher-dratch- 
er, flommacks, shackle, 
slommocks. 



Flommacky. 
Mulled. 



Shive — A shive 'a uns 
loaf=:A slice of his 
loaf of bread. 



GLOSSAR v. 



313 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Shall never sag with 
doubt or shake with 
fear, "Macbeth," V.iii. 
10. 



To carry me in the same 
foul clothes to Datchet 
mead, "Merry Wives 
of Windsor," III. iii. 
15; Id. 141-157; V. loi. 



Peace is a very apo- 
plexy, lethargy, 
mulled, deaf, sleepy, 
insensible, " Corio- 
lanus," IV. V. 239. 

Of a cut loaf to steal a 
shive, " Titus An- 
dronicus," II. i. 88. 



314 



GLOSSAR r. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Slice (verb). 



Slide (verb), as on ice. 

Slippery. See Miry, 
Muddy. 

Sloes. 

Sloppy. See Muddy. 



Small. See Short, 
Stumpy, Scanty. 

Small portion of any- 
thing. 



Small child. 



Sliver. 



Glir— Slether. 

Slippy. 

Slans. 
Slobbery, 

Cob, cobby, cop. 



Dab (used also as an 
adjective) — A large 
portion of anything is 
a dollop. 

Billing, anything very 
small — a very small 
child, a small apple in 



GLOSSAR Y. 



315 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



She that herself will 
sliver and disbranch, 
''King Lear," IV. ii. 
34. 



I will sell my dukedom 
to buy a slobbery and 
dirty farm, ''Henry 
v.," III. V. 12. 

Ulysses calls Thersites 
"Cobloaf," "Troilus 
and Cressida," II. i. 41. 



3i6 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Smear— To daub. 



Smoke (very black and 
thick). 



Smolder (verb). 
Sneak (noun). 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Warwickshire would 
be called a dilling. 
The same smallness, 
with the added idea of 
wailing or fretting, as 
a puny crying child or 
young of any animal, 
would be said to be 
a nesh. 

Bemoil. 



Smoke and smother. 



Domber. 
Mizzle. 



GLOSSARY. 



317 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



In how miry a place, 
how was she bemoiled, 
"Taming of the 
Shrew," IV. i. 77. 

From smoke to smother, 
"As You Like It," 
I. iii. 322. " Fire 
then, O, marcy what a 
roar, said my grand- 
father, and such a 
smoke and smother 
you could scarcely see 
your hand afore you " 
(New England Dialect, 
Major Jack Downing, 
"Thirty Years Out of 
the Senate," 1859). 



3i8 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Snub — Reproof, slander. 



Soaked. 



Sobs. 



Soliciting gratuities on 
St. Clement's Day — 
hence, any respectable 
kind of asking alms. 

Soon — Immediately. 

Sore — Bruise. 



Sour. 



Sour (verb). 



Sneap. 



Sobbed— Sobbed in th' 
tempest = Soaked 
through in a heavy 
rainstorm. 

Broken tears. 



elementing. 

Aforelong. 
Quat. 



Reasty — A reasty shine 
=A slice of sour 
bread. 

Summer — The beer is 
summered = The beer 
has turned sour. 



GLOSSARY. 



19 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




I will not undergo this 




sneap without reply, 




''2 Henry VI.," II. 




1. 133. 




Distasted with the salt 




of broken tears, 




''Troilus and Cres- 




sida," IV. iv. 50. 



I have rubbed this young 
quat almost to the 
sense, ''Othello," V. 
i. II. 



Maids, well summered 
and well kept, are like 
flies at Bartholomew 



320 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Snuff, sniff — To snuff or 
scent as a dog, to 
hunt. 

Soft (marshy, sloppy, 
wet). See Miry, 
Muddy. 



Solitary. 

Spare (verb) — To 
along without. 



get 



Speed — Pace or gait. 



Spent, exhausted. 



Spider web. 
Something. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Brevet — How the dog 
do brevet about = How 
the dog sniffs around. 

Flacky — Sappy. 



Unked. 

Miss — I cannot miss him 
at harvesting=I can- 
not spare him at har- 
vesting. 



Bat — Ees coome a god- 
dish bat = He came 
with good speed. 

Forewearied. 



Cobwail. 
Summat. 



GLOSSARY. 



321 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



tide, ''Henry V., 
V. ii. 335. 



But as 't is we cannot 
miss him — He does 
make our fire — fetcli 
in our wood, ''Tem- 
pest," I. ii. 311. 

He would miss it rather 
than carry it, but by 
the suit of the gentry 
to him, " Coriolanus," 
II. i. 253. 



Forewearied in their 
action of swift speed, 
"King John," II. i. 

233. 



322 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Soot — as from a chim- 


Colley. 


ney. 




Sour apple. See Apple, 
Russet Apple. 


Bitter-sweeting. 


Spacious. 


Roomthy. 


Sparkling. 


Sousy (applied to li- 
quors). 


Specks on the finger- 
nails. 


Gifts. 


Spectacles, a pair of. 


Barnacles. 


Spiritless — Cowardly. 


Lozel. 


Sparrow — especially the 
hedge sparrow. 


Betty, or hedgebetty. 


Spite (in spite of). 


Afrawl — I sh'll come a- 
frawl o' ye=I shall 
proceed in spite of all 




you say. 



Splinter, 

Spittle — see 
Mouthful. 



Drop, 



Spaul. 
Gob. 



GLOSSAK V. 



323 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Thy wit is a very bitter 
sweeting, ''Romeo 
and Juliet," II. iv. S^. 



And lozel, thou art 
worthy to be hanged, 
"Winter's Tale," II. 
iii. 109. 



324 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Splinter. 




Spaul. 


Split (verb). 




Scag. 


Sport. 




Ecky. 


Spoke — preterite of to 
speak, used as a prov- 
erb of inanimate 


Quoth. Jerk, quoth the 
plowshare = The 
plowshare went jerk 


things, never of 


per- 


or said *' jerk." 


sons. 






Sprawl. 




Retch — Resty. Mind 
not sprawl on settle = 
Do not sprawl over the 
chimney seat (perhaps 
mispronunciation of 
restive). 


Sprouts. 




Chits. 


Stab— see Thrust. 




Yerk. 


Stale — As stale as a dead 


Fishlike. 


fish. 






Squint (verb). 




Squinny. 



GLOSSAR V. 



325 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



True it is, my incorpor- 
ate friends, quoth he 
(the stomach), ''Corio- 
lanus," I. i. 23. 

Shake, quoth the dove- 
house, '' Romeo and 
Juliet," I. iii. S3- 

AVeariness can snore 
upon the flint, when 
resty sloth finds downy 
pillow hard, " Cym- 
beline," III. vi. 34. 



I had thought to have 
yerked him here under 
the ribs, "Othello," 
I. ii. 5. 

A very ancient and a 
fishlike smell, "Tem- 
pest," I. ii. 35. 

Dost thou squinny at me, 
"Lear," IV. vi. 120. 



326 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




Squeeze. 


Scrouge. 




Squint (verb). 


Squinny. 




Squint- (or cross-) eyed. 


Boss eye, bank eye- 
one-eyed man is 
gunner. 


-a 
a 


Starve (verb). 


Clam — or clem. 




Stalk, Strut— to walk 
proudly. 


Jet. 




Starving. 


Fameled. 




Stately — see Pride. 


Stomachful. 




Stave (of a cask or bar- 
rel). 


Chime. 





GLOSS A R r. 



327 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



What! will he clem me 
and his following! 
''The Poetaster," I. 
ii. 

How he jets under his 
advanced plumes, 

"Twelfth Night," II. 
V. 36. To jet upon a 
Prince's right, ''Titus 
Andronicus," II. i. 64. 
That giants may jet 
through, " Cymbeline," 
III. iii. 5. Insulting 
tyranny begins to jet 
upon the innocent 
and aweless throne, 
"Richard III." II. iv. 

51. 



328 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Stickleback. 


Daddy Rough. 


Stile. 


Clapgate. 


Sticks, faggots. 


Fardel. 


Sticky, mucilaginous. 


Terry. 

T-» u :__ 1 



Stinging insect, gadfly 
Bee or hornet. 



Stingy. 

Stint (piece of work). 

Stock — see Handle. 
Stop (imperative verb). 



Breese, brise, bree. 



Near. 

Graft, Grit. A certain 
allotted bit of work. 

Stale. 

Gie over, or a' done — 
A' done will 'ee (or, 
gie over) = Ha' done 
(stop) at once! 



GLOSSARY. 



329 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Who would fardels bear, 
"Hamlet," III. i. 76. 



The herd hath more 
annoyance by the 
breese than by the 
tiger, " Troilus and 
Cressida," I. iii. 54. 
The breeze upon her 
like a cow in June [a 
pun here on breeze — 
a light wind], ''An- 
tony and Cleopatra," 
III. X. 21. 



Give o'er the play, give 
me some light! away! 
"Hamlet," III. ii. 79. 
Elsewhere used as 
equivalent to surren- 



330 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Stoop (verb, to bend). 


Croodle. 


Story — see Long Story. 




Stout. 


Bibleback (if a man). 




Bundle — Graunchen. 




Fussock (if a woman). 




Bussock (with added 




meaning of vulgar). 


Strumpet — see Cour- 
tesan. Whore. 


Baigle — Faggott, Be- 
som — a loose young 




woman is a Fizgig — 




one who has been se- 




duced by a gentleman 




is a Doxy. 


Straightway — that is 
quickly, at once. See 
Instantly, Quickly. 


Straight. 


Strut (verb) — to walk 
proudly. See Stalk. 


Jet. 


Stubble stack. 


Hallow. 



GLOSSARY. 



331 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 


PLAYS. 




der, as Shall we give 




over and drown ? 




''Tempest," I. i. 41, 




and in thirteen other 




places, but not in the 




imperative. 




• 
Note the pun in Because 




she is a maid, spare 




for no faggots, " i 




Henry VI.," V. iv. 




56. 




Make her grave straight. 




'' Hamlet," V. i. 3. (So 




used in the Scriptures 




— see St. Luke iii. 4.) 



332 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 



Stubborn — see Obstinate. 

Stump (of a tree). 

Stumpy — see Short, 
Small, Scanty. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Stupid (noun). See 
Clown, Simpleton. 

Stutter, hesitate. 



Sty (in the eye). 
Suckle, Nurse. 



Suckling. 



Awkward. 

Stowl. 

Cob, cobby, cop — A cob 
loaf = A short or very 
scant loaf of bread. 
[Also in Oxfordshire, 
Kent, Surrey, York- 
shire, and Stafford- 
shire dialects.] 

Yawrups, Jolter-headed, 
Clouter-headed, Fat- 
headed. 

Huck and haow — Ee 
stood 'acken and 
'aowen or atchen =: he 
stammered and hesi- 
tated at doing it. 

Quot (or Puck). 

Nousle. 



Dilling — The smallest 
pig in the litter, used 
as a term of endear- 
ment for a small child, 



GLOSSARY, 



333 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Cobloaf ! — ''Troilus 
and Cressida," II. i. 
41. 



These mothers who, to 
nousle up their babies, 
"Measure for Meas- 
ure," III. ii. 237. 



334 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




as There, be a good 
dilling now, an' go to 
sleep quiet. 


Sulky — ill-tempered. 


Aitredans. 


Superior. 


Bettermost — A's Better- 
most nor him = I'm 
better than he. 


Supernumeraries — Idle 
or useless servants. 


Feeders. 


Suppose. 


Reckon — " Suppose " is 
only used when telling 
facts. As: So John is 




going to Lunnon, I 




suppose = John is go- 
ing to London. 
In some of the Southern 
States of the United 
States, reckon is used 
just as the Warwick- 




shire peasant uses 
"suppose." I reckon 
you'll dine with us to- 
day — We shall rely 




on your diningwith us. 



GLOSSARY. 



335 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS, 



I will your very faithful 
feeder be, ''As You 
Like It," II. iv. 99. 
When all your offices 
have been oppressed 
with rotten feeders, 
"Timon of Athens," 
IV. ii. 

It is somewhat difficult 
to say whether Shakes- 
peare ever uses the 
word suppose in the 
Warwickshire sense. 
The following looks 
like such a use of it: 

**ril be supposed upon 
a book his face is the 
worst thing about 
him," " Measure for 
Measure," II. i. 162. 
But here supposed may 
be an elipsis for super- 
imposed, which is the 



336 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




That is, it is a pressing 
invitation to dinner, 
and not exactly the 
statement of an exist- 




ing arrangement. 


Sure. 


Safe — He's safe to do it 
= He's sure to do it. 


Surety. 


Back up, back friend. 


Surfeit. 


Sick — I *ud my sick on 
plums — I have had 
all the plums that I can 
eat. 


Surfeit. 


Sick. 



GLOSSAR Y. 



337 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



radical meaning of the 
word suppose. 



Is used very frequently 
in the plays. My 
ships are safe to road, 
''Merchant of Venice," 
V. i. 285, etc. 

A back friend and 
shoulder capper, 
"Comedy of Errors," 
IV. ii. 37. 



would be 
weeping, 
groans, "2 
VL" III. ii. 



blind with 

sick with 

'•'"* Henry 

62. My 



most honorable lord, I 
am e'en sick of shame, 
*' Timon of Athens," 
III. vi. 46. I am 
sick of many griefs, 
''Julius Caesar," IV. 
iii. 144. 

Quietness, grown sick of 
rest, " Antony and 
Cleopatra," I. iii. 5. 
The commonwealth is 
sick of their own 



338 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Surmount (or surpass). 

Surpass — see aroupe. 
Suspect (verb). 

Suddenly. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Overgo or overget. 



Judge — I judge him guil- 
ty = I suspect that he 
is guilty. 

Suddent. 



GLOSSARY. 



339 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



choice, ** 2 Henry VI," 
I. iii. 87. The follow- 
ing puns allude to this 
Warwickshire meaning 
of the word apparently. 
They are as sick that 
surfeit on too much as 
they that starve on 
nothing, *' Merchant 
of Venice," I. ii. 6. 
That nature, being 
sick of man's unkind- 
ness, should yet be 
angry, '* Timon of 
Athens," IV. iii. 106. 
When we are sick in 
fortune — often the sur- 
surfeit of our behavior, 
"King Lear," I. ii. 
129. 

To overgo thy plaints, 
and drown thy cries, 
''Richard III.," II. ii. 
61. 



340 



GLOSS A R V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Surpass — see Excel 
(verb). 


Cap. 


Swing (verb). 


Geg, gaig— Let's gaig no' 
= Let's take a swing. 


Sweat (verb). 


Gibber. 


Sweat (noun). 


Muck — I'm all of a muck. 




I'm sweaty. 


Sweet. 


Candy. 


Sweetmeats. 


Humbugs. 



GLOSSAR y 



341 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And the sheeted dead 
did squeak and gibber 
in the Roman streets, 
"Hamlet," I. i. 116. 
The word ''gibber" 
here is commonly 
taken to mean gabble 
or chatter, but if the 
word were used in the 
Warwickshire sense, 
how much more ghast- 
ly and horrible the 
picture! The dead — 
out of place in the 
Roman streets — wor- 
ried and sweated. 



What a candy deal of 
courtesy, this fawning 
greyhound did then 
proffer me, '' i Henry 
IV.," I. iii. 251. 



342 



GLOSSAR y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Swipes (stale beer). 




Swanky. 




Swipes (sour beer 
cider). 


or 


Bellyvengeance. 




Swell (verb) in cooking. 


Plim. 




Swollen. 




Bluffy — My hands 
bluffy as bluffy 
hands are very 
swollen. 


are as 

= My 

much 


Swing — a see-saw 
merry-go-round. 


or 


Gay. 




Swop, Barter (verb 
noun). 


or 


Rap. 




Syrup. 




Jessup. 




T 








Tadpole. 




Jackbonnial. 




Talon— Singular of Tal- 
ons. The claw of a 
bird. 


Talon. 





GLOSSAR Y 



343 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



There is a pun on this 
provincial mispronun- 
ciation in: If a talent 
be a claw, see how 
he claws him with a 
talent! " Love's La- 
bor's Lost," IV. ii. 
64. 



344 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Tail — a short tail, 
rabbit's. 


as a 


Scut. 


Tailor— See Botch. 




Bodger. 


Talebearer — A cr 
tale. See Tattler 


irry- 


Clatterer. 


Talebearer. 




Pickthanks. Gossip is 
pickthanking work. 


Talk. 




Scrowl. 


Tame. 




Cade — Cade lamb=:Pet 
lamb. 


Tangle. 




Robbie. 


Tap (verb). 




Tabber. 


Tape. 




Inkle, Inkles [Also in 
Whitby dialect; . 



GLOSSARY. 



;45 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



My doe with the black 
scut, " Merry Wives 
of Windsor," V. v. 

20. 



Pickthanks and base 



newsmonger, 



Hen- 



ry IV.," III. ii. 25. 

See how with signs and 
tokens she can scrowl, 
"Titus Andronicus," 
II. iv. 5. 



What's the price of this 
inkle, ''Love's La- 
bor's Lost,"III. i. 140. 
Inkles, caddices, cam- 
brics, ''Winter's Tale," 
IV. iv. 207. Her 
inkle, silk, twin with 



346 



GLOSSAR v. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Taste (verb). 


Smack, Smatch. 


Tatters, Shreds. 


Jimrags. 


Tattle (verb). 


Clat. 


Tattler — see Gossip. 


Pickthanks, clatterer. 


Tallow, a lump of. 


Keech. 


Tardy, belated. 


Lated. 



GLOSSARY, 



347 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



the rubied cherry, 
'Pericles," V. (Gow- 

" ) 



er's Prologue, 



All sects, all ages smack 
of this vice, " Meas- 
for Measure," II. ii. 5. 
He hath a smack of 
all neighboring lan- 
guages, ''All's Well 
that Ends Well," IV. 
i. 18. 



Pickthanks and base 
newsmongers, "i Hen- 
ry IV.," III. ii. 25. 

I wonder that such a 
Keech can, with his 
very bulk, take up the 
rays of the beneficial 
sun, "Henry VIII.," 
I. i. 55. Did not good 
wife Keech, the 
butcher's wife, come 
in then, " 2 Henry 



IV.," II. i. 



lOI. 



I am so lated in the 
world, that I have lost 



348 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Taste — to taste of. 


All— What's this bottle 






all of?=What do the 






contents of this bottle 






taste of? 


Tavern. 




Smokeshop, Jerry 'Ouse. 


Tea. 




Tay. 


Tea-kettle. 




Sukey, Shookery. 


Teach. 




Larn. 


Tear (verb). 




Scag. 


Tease (verb), 


see Worry. 


Miimmock, mammocked 



GLOSSAR y 



349 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



my way forever, "An- 
tony and Cleopatra," 
III. ii. 3. How spurs 
the lated traveler 



apace, 
III. iii. 6. 



Macbeth," 



The use of the verb 
learn for teach was 
not uncommon in 
Shakespeare's time. 
You must not learn 
me how to remember, 
yAs You Like It," I. 
ii. 6. They will learn 
you by rote where 
services were done, 
''Henry V.," III. vi. 
74- 



O, I warrant how he 



15° 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Teeth, see Milkteeth. 



Tender — see Frail. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



(uncertain which) — A' 
done mummicking me 
= .Stop teasing me. 



Sidder. Applied to 
vegetables — also to an 
unsafe ladder or scaf- 
folding. 



Termagant — see Scold. 


Mankind Witch. 


Tempt — see Provoke. 


Urge. 


Thatch (verb). 


Thack — He thacked the 
housen = He thatched 
the houses. 


Thatch (over a beehive). 


Hackle. 


Theirs. 


Theirn. 


Thick— see Stumpy. 


Cob, Cop, Cobby — Cob 
loaf=:A short, thick 
loaf. 


Thickset (person). 


Dumpty. 



GLOSSAR y. 



351 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



mammocked it, " Co- 
riolanus," I. iii. 71. 



A mankind witch — hence 
with her, "Winter's 
Tale," II. iii. 67. 



352 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Thief. 


Lifter. 


Thief. 


Lifter. 


Thankless, discourag- 
ing. 


Heartless — It's heartless 
work getting this 
ground clear of stuns. 


Thin, Attenuated — see 
Emaciated, Pinched. 


Poor, scraily — He's as 
poor as poor=iHe's 
very thin. 


Thirsty. 


Puckfyst— The '' Puck- 
fyst is a dried toad- 
stool." Hence, 'A feels 
Puckfyst=:I feel as 
dry as a dried toad- 
stool. 


Thoroughly, entirely. 




Thoughtless. 


Gidding. 



GLOSSARY. 



353 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



And so old a lifter, 
"Troilus and Cres- 
sida," I. ii. 128. 

Is he so young a man 
and so old a lifter? 
" Troilus and Cres- 
sida," I. ii. 129. 

Art thou drawn among 
these heartless hinds? 
"Romeo and Juliet," 
I. i. 73. 



Under yon yew trees lay 
theeallalong, "Romeo 
and Juliet," V. iii. 3. 
That is, conceal your- 
selves completely un- 
der those yew trees. 

Of these most thought- 
less and giddy-pated 



354 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Thoughtless. 




Gidding, giddy-pated. 


Thrash — see Whip. 


Warm. 


Thrive (verb). 




Pick up. 


Thriving — see 
see Prolific. 


Healthy, 


Kind — That cow aint 
kind=:That cow does- 
n't have calves. 


Throb (verb). 




Quop. 


Thrush. 




Thrusher — Whistling 
thrusher = The song 
thrush. Gore thrusher 
=:The missel thrush. 


Thrust, as with 
or rapier. 


a dagger 


Yerk (but this word is 
also sometimes used in 
the sense of dash, 
throw out — see Dash). 


Thwart (verb). 




Boffle. 



GLOSSAR V. 



355 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



times 
Night," 



I. 



' ' Twelfth 
iv. 6. 



Perhaps used in this 
sense by chorus to Act 
II. of ''Henry V.," I. 
i. 19, *' O England, 
what mightest thou 
do, were all thy chil- 
dren kind and nat- 
ural." 



I had thought to have 
yerk'd him here under 
the ribs. 



356 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Timid — see Gentle. 


Soft — 'Es as soft as u 
empty packet==He is 
a very timid person. 


Tired — see Exhausted. 


Sadded — I be quite sad- 
ded wi' being in 'a 
house — I am tired of 
staying indoors. 


Thus. 


Athissens = in this way 
=Athatuns=:in that 




way. 


Toad. 


Tosey. 


Toadstool. 


Canker-blossom 


Toady, to flatter. 


Claw. 


Toil (noun and verb). 


Moil — I've been moiling 
'a day = I've been toil- 
ing all day. 


Tolerably. 


Middling or Pretty Mid- 



GLOSSARY. 



357 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



You canker blossom, 
you thief of love, 
" Midsummer Night's 
Dream," II. ii. 282, 



Laugh when I am merry, 
and claw no man in 
his humor, '^ Much 
Ado about Nothing," 
I. iii. 18. Look how 
he claws him, " Love's 
Labor's Lost," IV. ii. 



358 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 






dling — We gets on 
pretty middling==We 
are doing tolerably 
well; but see below 
for opposite meaning. 


Tolerably bad. 




Very Middling — He is 
doing very middling= 
He is doing badly. 
The word middling 
has opposite meanings 
according as it is pre- 
fixed by pretty or very, 
thus "pretty mid- 
dling" might mean 
" tolerably good." 


Toll (verb)— More 
actly to toll a 
properly. 


ex- 
bell 


Knoll (Noal)— Have the 
bell knowled = Have it 
properly tolled. 


Torment or aggravate. 


Tar, or terrify — 'Is 
cough terrifies him — 
His cough worries 
him. 


Tottering — see 
steady. 


Un- 


Tickle, Wungle. 



GLOSSARY. 



359 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Where bells have knolled 
to church, **As You 
Like It, II. vii. 114; 
also Ibid., line 131. 
And so his knell is 
knolled, ''Macbeth," 
V. vii. 54. Knolling 
a departed friend, '* 2 
Hen. IV," I. i. 103. 



Thy head stands so tickle 
on thy shoulders that 



360 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Treacherous— see 
ceitful. 


De- 


Fornicating. 


Treacle. 




Dirty Dan'l. 


Trifle (verb). 




Mummock. 


Trifles, Trifling. 




Fads, Small Beer— Fad 
ding or Friggling. 



Treasure Trove. 
Tremble (verb). 
Tow — Oakum. 



Findliss. 



Dither. 



Herds — Anything made 
of tow or oakum is 
Herden. To herd a 
boat = to calk it. 



Trinkets—see Decorate. ; Bravery — She is all brav- 

\ ery=She wears a great 
many ribbons or trink- 
ets, i. ^., much finery. 



GLOSSAR V. 



361 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



a milkmaid, if she be 
in love, may sigh it off, 
" IMeasure for Meas- 
ure," I. iii. 177. 



To suckle fools and 
chronicle small beer, 
*' Othello," II. i. 160. 



Where youth and cost 
and witless bravery 
keeps, " Measure for 
Measure," I. iii. 10. 
With scarfs and fans, 
and double changed 
bravery, " Taming of 
Shrew," IV. iii. 57. 



362 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 




,, WARWICKSHIRE. 


Trowsers. 




Strides. 


Trifle (verb). 




Murnmock. 


Toss, or shake (as 


in 


Ted— He's teddin=:He's 


hay-making). 




tossing (or shaking up) 
the hay out of the 
swath. To toss a 
baby in the air = to 
dink the dilling or 
'' reckling." 


Trouble (reflexive vei 


•b). 


Fash — He do fash his- 
selfrrHe troubles him- 
self. 


Trouble, to bother, (tran- 


Moither — He moithers 


sitive verb). 




me — He troubles me. 


Trouble (noun). 




Cumber — The cumber I 
ha' had wi' that lad's 
breedin' = The trouble 
or labor I have had 
with that lad's rearing. 


Trouble — see Darkened, 


Coil — not distinctly 


Blackened. 




Warwickshirean. 



GLOSSAR y. 



2>^2> 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Let it not cumber your 
better remembrance, 
''Timon of Athens," 
III. vi. 52. 



Here is a coil without 
protestation, "Two 
Gentlemen of Ve- 
rona," I. ii. 99. 
What a coil is there, 
Dromio! ''Comedy 
of Errors," III. i. 48. 
All this coil is 'long 
of you, " Midsummer 



3^4 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Troublesome — 


see Mis- 


Tageous — The boy's 


chievous. 




tageous = The boy is 
troublesome, or (per- 
haps) inclined to be 
vicious. Mere frolic- 
someness, or innocent 
mischief is expressed 
by the adjectives 
'* anointed " or '* un- 
lucky." 


Tub. 




Kiver — Properly a butter 
tub, the tub the butter 
is worked in after be- 
ing taken from the 
churn. 


Tuft (of grass). 




Tussock. 


Tumor. 




Substance — Like 'ers got 
substance on ers dugs 
= Maybe she has a 
tumor growing on her 
breast. 


Turf (Greensward). 


Grinsard. 


Turnstile. 




Clap-gate. 



GLOSSARY. 



365 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Night's Dream," III. 
ii- 339* Yonder's old 
coil at home, "Much 
Ado about Nothing," 
V. ii. 98. 



366 



GLOSSAR y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Twilight. 




Blind man's holiday. 


u 






Unaccustomed- 


-out of 


Out. 


practice — see 


Wrong- 




Uneven. 




Gobby — A gobby bit 'o' 
sharm = an irregular 
or uneven lump of 
manure. 


Unfasten (as a d 


oor). 


Dup — Dup the door = 
Open the door. Wise, 
however, says the 
word is used as an 
order either to fasten 
or unfasten a door. 


Unhealthy. 




Unkind — (This word 
sometimes means bar- 
ren, as — She died un- 
kind^she died a maid 
or childless). 


Unknown. 




Unbeknownt. 


Unsteady — see 
ing, Leaky. 


Totter- 


Tickle. Giggling. 



GLOSSARY. 



367 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Very good orators, 
when they are out, 
they will spit, ''As 
You Like It," IV. i. 
76. 



And dupped the cham- 
ber door, "Hamlet," 
IV. V. 56. 



Thy head stands so 
tickle on thy shoul- 
ders that a milkmaid, 
if she be in love, may 



[6S 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR, 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Useless, a good-for- 
nothing person. 


Dummill or Dummock. 


Untidy — But more 
generally as a noun, 
an untidy person, a 
slattern (which see). 


Slommocks. 


Untidy — see Slattern. 


Blowsy, Udder-mucklin. 
An untidy girl is a 
Blowse. 


Upside-down. 


Arsy-versy. 


Unusual. 


Unaccountable (Unake- 
ountable) — It's unac- 
countable weather r= 
It's unusual weather. 


Upstart. 


Whipster. 


Urge — see Induce. 


Kindle. 



GLOSSARY 



369 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



sigh it off, " Measure 
for Measure," I. iii. 
177. Paris is lost. 
The state of Nor- 
mandy stands on a 
tickle point, " 2 Henry 
VI.," I. i. 216. 



Sweet blouse — you are 
a beauteous blossom 
sure, " Titus Androni- 
cus," IV. ii. 72. 



I am not valiant neither, 
but every puny whip- 
ster gets my sword, 
''Othello," V. ii. 244. 

Nothing remains but to 



37° 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Useless. 


Mufflin — I'm as mufflin as 




the babe unborn^I'm 




as useless as a baby. 


Usher — see Forerunner, 


Whiffler. 


Herald, a master of 




ceremonies at rural 




ceremonies — who goes 




before with a staff or 




wand, a sort of Drum 




Major. 




Urine. 


Stale. 


Usually. 


MOvSt in general 


V 




Vagrant. 


Chop goss (probably one 




who chops the gorse). 




Gaubshite. 



GLOSSARY. 



371 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



kindle the boy thither, 
''As You Like It," I. 
i. 139. So used in the 
Scriptures: My heart 
is turned within me, 
my repentings are 
kindled together, 

Hosea, xi. 8. 



The deep mouth'd sea, 

Which, like a mighty 

whiffler 'fore the king. 

Seems to prepare the 

way, ''Henry V.," 

Chorus to Act V. 



Thou didst drink the 
stale of horses, and 
the gilded puddle, 
"Antony and Cleo- 
patra," I. iv. 62. 



372 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Vermin, lice in the 
head. 

Variance, disagreement. 



Very — see Excessive, 
Extremely. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Crippers. 



Two Folks — Ye'll be 
goin* on like two 
folks = You are quar- 
reling. 

As, As or That — (with 
the repetition of the 
adjective) — It's as hot 
as hot = It's very hot. 
Or, I'm that bad in 
my innards = I'm suf- 
fering very much 
internally — Martle 
(Mortal). Nation — 
'Ees martal good, or 
'Ees nation good=He 
is very good. Well, I 
be 'eart well (Heart 
well), but I a' the 
rheumatics in me 
shoolder martle bad. 
These two latter may 
suggest the superla- 
tives, ''all creation," 
or ''tarnation" (dar- 
nation) which foreign 
comic papers claim is 
" American." 

"It sounded just like 
father's gun. 

Only a Nation louder! " 



GLOSSAR V. 



373 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



374 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




('' Yankee Doodle," 
1776.) The familiar 
poxy — ({. e., plaguey) 
is often used, as It's 




poxy 'ot, or It's poxy 
cauwld, for It's very 
hot, or very cold. 


Very (superlative ad- 
verb). 


Mortal — 'Ee the mortal 
moral '0 's dad=:He is 
the very image of his 
father. 


Vicious — see Mischie- 
vous, Troublesome. 


Tageous. 


Victuals — see Food. 


Belly-timber. 


Vigorous (applied to 
plants) see Hardy, 
Healthy, Thriving. 


Frem — Your plants do 
look frem = Your 
plants look hardy (or 
vigorous). 


W 




Wag— a droll person. 


Dryskin. 


Wages. 


Saturday nights. 



GLOSSAR Y 



375 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



(Very general as a super- 
lative in the plays.) 
So is all nature in 
love mortal in folly, 
''As You Like It," II. 
iv. 53. I have pro- 
claimed myself thy 
mortal foe, " 3 Henry 
v.," III. iii. 257. 



176 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Wan. 



•' warm in Warwick- 
shire means to beat 
with a stick or club. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Wanny — How wanny 
her looks = How pale 
(or wan or ill) she 
looks. 



Warm (verb)— The word Hot, Chill— I hot it = I 

warmed it over the 
fire. I chilled a drop 
of milk = I warmed 
(/. e., took the cold 
off) a drop of milk. 



Washing Tub. 

Washing — a wetting 
gotten at the wash. 



Wash out (verb) 
Rinse. 

Wasp. 



— see 



Maiding-Tub. 

Buck or Bucking — *' I 
was out in all that 
tempest last night, un 
it was lucky as I'd got 
this ere awd top coo- 
wut on. I sh'd a got 
a good Bucking else." 
The wash- basket is a 
Buck-basket. 

Swill — I will swill it=I 
will wash it out. 

Waps — [This is the 
almost universal word 
for wasps among the 
negroes of the South- 
ern United States to- 
day]. 



GLOSSARY. 



377 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



She washes bucks here 
at home. '* 2 Henry 
VI.," IV. ii. 52. 
Throw foul linen upon 
him as if it were go- 
ing a-bucking. "The 
Merry Wives of Wind- 
sor," III. iii. 140-166. 



378 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 



Waste (to waste time)- 
see Idle, Loiter. 



Waver — to show inde- 
cision. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Mess, Burn daylight — 
She might as lief be 
at school, she's only- 
messing about home 
= She's only wasting 
her time at home. The 
phrase to burn day- 
light, is frequent in 
Warwickshire — in the 
second person mostly. 
In ''Shakespeareana," 
vol. X. , account is given 
of an American slave, 
said to be pure Congo, 
who used the expres- 
sion in such forms as, 
" But, bress yo' soul, 
honey, dis won't do, 
we's burnin' daylight. " 

Hiver-hover — To veer 
as the wind = To 
whiffit. 



Weak — a plant or vege- Spiry. 
table. 



Weak-lunged (delicate 
in the lungs). 

Weak-minded — see 
Fool. 



Tisiky. 
Cakey. 



GLOSSARY. 



379 



VENUS AND ADONIS, 



PLAYS. 



Perhaps in this sense in 
''Lear" I. i. 119: He 
that makes his genera- 
tion messes to gorge 
his appetite. — AVe burn 
daylight ; here, read, 
read, read, ** Merry 
Wives," II. i. 114. 
Come, we burn day- 
light, ho ! ** Romeo 
and Juliet," I. iv. 27. 



38o. 



GLOSSAR V. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Weaning-bottle. 


Titty-bottle. 


Wearied (only in the 


Forewearied. 


sense of very weary — 
worn out, fagged). 




Weed (verb). 


Paddle — Especially 
when using a long, 
narrow spade or 
*'spud" — Paddle the 
garden = Weed the 
garden. 


Weeds—see Fumaria. 


Kecks — Thaay be kecks 
==Those are weeds. 


Well. 


Lusty — He's as lusty as 
lusty = He's perfectly 
well. 


Wet through — see satu- 
rated. 


Watched — He was 
watched 1= He w^as wet 
through. 


Wheedle, coax. 


Carney, Creep up your 
sleeve. 


Wheelhorse — The horse 
that does most of the 
work. 


Tiller Thill-horse. 



GLOSS A R Y. 



381 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Forewearied in the 
action of swift speed, 
''King John," II. i. 
233. 



A good babe, lusty and 
like to live, "Win- 
ter's Tale," II. ii. 27. 



Thou hast more hair on 
thy chin than Dobbin 
my thill horse has on 
his tail, *' Merchant 
of Venice," II. ii. 
102. 



382 



GLOSSARY. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Whiff. 


Wift. 


Whim — see Notions. 


Fad, Megrims — Hers 
always as full o' her 
fads =: She's always 
full of whims or no- 
tions. A silly or 
weak-minded old man 
is sometimes called a 
"half-soaked gaffer." 


Whine (verb). 


Yammer, Wangle. 


Whip — see Beat, Thrash. 


Warm, Lace— I'll warm 
=ye I'll beat (or thrash 
or whip) ye, — I'll lace 
ye, would mean the 




same. 


Whip handle. 


Whipstock. 


Whisper (verb). 


Cuther. 


White Clover. 


Honey Stalk — [Also in 
Sussex dialect.' 



GLOSSARY. 



383 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Malvolio's nose is no 
whipstock, "Twelfth 
Night," II. iii. 28. 
He appears to have 
practiced more with 
the whipstock than 
with the lance, "Peri- 
cles," II. ii. 151. 



Than baits to fish, or 
honey stalks to sheep, 
"Titus Andronicus," 
IV. iv. 91. 



3^4 



GLOSSAR y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Willo' the Wisp. 
Who. 

Whole of a class (noun). 

Whole (adjective). 

Whooping-cough. 

Whore — see Bedfellow, 
Strumpet. 



Wicked — see Mischie- 
vous, Troublesome. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Jack an' his Lantern, 
Hobaday lantern. 

As — There be those as 
know = There are 
those who know. 

Boiling — Best o' the 
boiling=Best of the 
lot. 

Clean. 

Chin-cough. 

Doxy. Customer. Salt. 
Properly, a country 
girl the mistress of 
a gentleman. [Also in 
several other dialects. ] 
The folk saying is, 
that a Doxy is one 
who is neither maid, 
wife, nor widow. 



Tageous, Gallus — Wick- 
ed or malicious jokes 
are gammits. 



GLOSSARY. 



385 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



With heigh ! the 
over the dale, * 



doxy 
''Win- 
ter's Tale," IV. iii. 2. 
I think thee now some 
common customer, 
"All's Well that Ends 
Well," III. V. 287. 
I, marry her? what, a 
customer? "Othello," 
IV. i. 140. But all the 
charms of love. Salt 
Cleopatra, "Antony 
and Cleopatra," II. i. 

25. 



386 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


Wife. 


Old 'ooman. 


Willful. 


Masterful. 


Wild — see Prodigal. 


Random — as a crop 
which has grown with- 
out planting. 


Wild Apple— see Russet 
Apple, Sour Apple. 


Pomewater — (Another 
species is called Apple 
John. ) 


Willing — see Acquies- 
cent. 


Agreeable = I'm agree- 
able to that = I am 
willing to do that. 


Willing (in the sense of 
anxious to assist or co- 
operate). 


Cunning — Anybody ud 
be cunning to do any- 
thing for you = Any- 
body would be willing 
to help you. 


Willingly. 


Lief. Probably form of 
"leave myself" or 
give myself leave — 
common to all familiar 
speech. 


Willow. 


Withy — Etherings are 



GLOSSAR V. 



387 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Ripe as a pomewater, 
*' L o V e ' s Labor's 
Lost," IV. ii. 5. 



388 



GLOSSAR Y. 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 




slips cut from willow 




trees or oziers. 


Wing (of a house— see 
Addition, Extension, 
Shed). 


Lean to. 


With (accompany). 


Along of=Go along of 
father = Go with your 
father. 


Withered. 


Wizen. 


Witless — As by birth, dis- 
tinguished from Dunce 
or Fool (which see). 


Sorry — He's a sorry fel- 
low = He*s half-witted, 
or of no account. 


Windpipe. 


Wizzund — or Guzzle. 


Windy. 


Hurden — It's burden 
weather = It's very 
windy weather. 


Woman. 


Ooman. 


Wood. 


Ood (uod). 


Wood — A piece of wood- 
land, especially w^hen 
small in extent. 


Spinney. 


Woodlands — A piece 
larger in extent than 
the foregoing. 


Holt. 



GLOSSARY. 



389 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



390 



GLOSS A R y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Woodpecker, especially 
the green variety. 



Wood Pigeon. 



Woolen Cap. 



Worn Out — see Fa- 
tigued. (Applied to 
Merchandise — see 
Shopworn.) 



Worry, as 
mother 
Tease. 



a child 
(verb) — 



Its 
see 



Worth, Worthy— Adjec- 
tive,and adverb, worth- 
ily. 



AVARWICKSHIRE. 



Hickle (also written 
Hickwall) — pronounc- 
ed Eekle, — or Steek 
Eekle. 

Quice, sometimes Quist. 

Statute Cap — The cap 
worn by Act of 1571 
to encourage woolen 
manufacture, whence 
any cap made of wool- 
en, or wool-like ma- 
terial. [Also in other 
dialects. 



.s- 



Forwearied. [Also in 
several other dialects.] 



Mammock, put out, put 
about — The child do 
mummock, or fillip, me 
so = The child worries 
me. 



Account — He bean't o* 
account = He is not 
worth anything. He 



GLOSSARY. 



391 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



Better wits have worn 
plain statute caps, 
Love's Labor's Lost," 
V. ii. 281. 



Forwearied in this ac- 
tion, " King John," 
II. i.233. 



O, I warrant how he 
mammocked it, ''Co- 
riolanus," I. iii. 71. 



392 



GLOSSAR V, 



VERNACULAR. 


WARWICKSHIRE. 


* 


don't do o' any ac- 
count=He doesn't act 
worthily. 


Worthless person — a 
good-for-nothing. 


Faggott. 


Would — (auxiliary 
verb). 


Ood. 


Wren — The female of 
any bird. 


Jenny. 


Wrinkle. 


Rivvel. 


Wrongly, Improperly — 
adjective or adverb — 
see Unaccustomed. 


Out of — To call a man 
out of his name=rTo 
call him by his wrong 




name. To name him 




improperly. 


Y 




Yard. 


Pizzle. 



GLOSSAR V. 



393 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



I have forgot my part, 
and I am out, '^ Corio- 
lanus," V. iii. 41. If 
I cannot recover your 
niece I am a foul ways 
out, '< Twelfth Night," 
II. iii. 201, Your hand 
is out, '' Love's La- 
bor's Lost," IV. i. 135. 

A blister on his sweet 
tongue that put Ar- 
mado's page out of his 
part, *' Love's Labor's 
Lost," V. ii. 336. 



You bull's pizzle, you 
stockfish, ** Henry 
IV.," II, iv, 271. 



394 



GLOSSAR y. 



VERNACULAR. 



Yearling — Especially of 
sheep. 



Yeast. 



Yellowhammer. 

Yes. 

Yoke (for cattle). 

Yoke. 

Youngster. 

Yonder. 

You. 



Young man (in sense 
of beau or lover), see 
Lordling. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Teg — In theplural the 
word is Earrings, 
though properly Ear- 
rings are the very 
young lambs, or lambs 
just dropped. 

Barm. 



Grecian. 

Ah— Yea. 

Bow [also in several 
other dialects]. 

Bow. 

Nipper. 

Yon, or Yond. [But in 
all dialects.] 

Thee'stit (or Thou'st it) 
=:You have it, or, You 
are the one. 

Naabs or Knaaps. Its 
she's Knaaps=It's her 
young man, or beau. 



GLOSSARY. 



395 



VENUS AND ADONIS. 



PLAYS. 



That all the Earlings 
which were streaked 
and pied, ''Merchant 
of Venice," I. iii. 80. 



And sometimes makes 
the drink to bear no 
barm, " Midsummer 
Night's Dream," 1. ii. 
39- 



As the ox has his bow. 

Like 



sir. 
It,' 



"As You 
III. iii. 80. 



39^ 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



Following is a suggestive list of vernacular words 
not dialectic except in the pronunciation (though 
the separation from the dialectic form is not always 
without difficulty), which shows that Warwickshire 
pronunciation is purely arbitrary: 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Acorn. 


Accun. 


Across. 


Acrass. 


Afraid. 


Af eared. 


Afternoon. 


Atternoon. 


Against. 


Agyun. 


Ago. 


Agoo. 


Almost. 


Amwust. 


Always. 


Allwuz. 


Ankle. 


Ankley or Ankler. 


Apple. 


Opple. 


Ask. 


Ex. 


Askew. 


Skew. 


Ashes. 


Esses. 


Asparagus. 


Sparrow grass. 


Attacked. 


Attacted. 


Awkward. 


Accud. 


Beans. 


Byuns. 


Beat. 


Byut. 


Beadle. 


Battel. 


Because. 


Acuz. 


Beg. 


Bag. 


Belly. 


Bally. 


Besom. 


Bizzum. 


Bleat. 


Blat. 


Board. 


Bwurd. 


Boat. 


Bwut. 


Bone. 


Bwun. 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



397 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Both. 


Bwuth. 


Bottle. 


Bwuttle. 


Breadth. 


Breuth. 


Brooding. 


Bruddy. 


Brook. 


Bruck. 


Busybody. 


Bessy. 


Cackle. 


Chackle. 


Causeway. 


Causey. 


Cart. 


Kyart. 


Cavalry. 


Cavaltry. 


Celery. 


Soldery. 


Certificate. 


Stivvykate. 


Chair. 


Cheer. 


Cheap. 


Chup. 


Cheat. 


Chut. 


Children. 


Chuldrum. 


China. 


Chaney. 


Choke. 


Chalk. 


Churn. 


Churm. 


Close. 


Clauss. 


Clot. 


Clat. 


Cold. 


Caowd. 


Come. 


Coom. 


Colt. 


Caowt. 


Corpse. 


Carpts. 


Corn. 


Karn. 


Cornice. 


Cornish. 


Cord. 


Kwerd. 


Courting. 


Kwartin'. 


Cream. 


Crem. 


Dance. 


Darnse. 


Darn. 


Dern. 



398 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Deadly. 


Dudley. 


Deal. 


Dyull. 


Desperate. 


Despert. 


Dew. 


Dag. 


Digest. 


Disgest. 


Drop. 


Drap. 


Duke. 


Jook. 


Dusty. 


Dowsley. 


Early. 


Yarley. 


Easy. 


Yuzzy. 


Earnest. 


Yarnest. 


Earth. 


Yuth. 


Eat. 


Yut. 


Enough. 


Anew. 


Ever. 


Err. 


Extra. 


Exter. 


Fairies. 


Pharisees. 


Felloes (of a wheel). 


Fallies. 


Few. 


Faou. 


Farrow. 


Farry. 


Feature. 


Faater. 


Fault. 


Fawt. 


Fern. 


Fearn. 


Fetch. 


Fatch. 


Field. 


Fald. 


Filbert. 


Fill-beard. 


Feet. 


Fit. 


Fetch. 


Futch. 


Fleas. 


Flaes. 


Flannel. 


Flannin. 


Floor. 


Flur. 


Fodder. 


Fother. 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



399 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Fought. 


Fowt. 


Further. 


Furder. 


First. 


Fust. 


Foot. 


Fut. 


Gulp. 


Gallup. 


Gash. 


Gaish. 


Gallon. 


Gallund. 


Glimpse, 


Glinch. 


Gold. 


Goold. 


Gleaning. 


Lazin. 


Grease. 


Grace. 


Graze. 


Scrage. 


Gone. 


Gwun. 


Gulp. 


Gullup. 


Game. 


Gyum. 


Handkerchief. 


Ankitcher. 


Hanker. 


Onker. 


Heifer. 


Ayfer. 


Hungry. 


Ongry. 


Heighth. 


Eckth. 


Hew. 


Yaow. 


Hair. 


Yar. 


Head. 


Hud. 


Heap. 


Yup. 


Hit. 


Hot. 


Horn. 


Arn. 


Horse. 


Oss. 


Is it? 


Yunt it. 


It. 


Him. 


Joist. 


Jice. 



400 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Join. 


Jine. 


Key. 


Kyoy. 


Lodge. 
Ladder. 


Laidge. 
Ladther. 


Lard, 


Laird. 


Lash. 


Laish. 


Loiter. 
Loin. 


Layter. 
Line. 


Lane. ) 
Lean. \ 


Leyun. 


Left. 


Lafft. 


Linnet. 


Lennet. 


Loins. 


Lines. 


Laugh. 
Lukewarm. 


Loff. 
Lewwarm. 


Meaning. ' 

Mercy. 

Mischief. 


Myunin'. 

Mossy. 
Mishtiff. 


Morsel. 


Mossil. 


Moult. 


Mult. 


Mire. 


Mwire. 


Noise. 


Nase. 


Not. 


Nat. 


Notch. 


Nutch. 


Nest. 


Nist — plural, Nisses. 


Orchard. 


Archud. 


Often. 


Aften. 


Oil. 
Ordinary. 


Ayl. 
Arnery. 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



401 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Opinionated. 


Opiniated. 


Peas. 


Pase. 


Peel. 


Pill. 


Pole. 


Paowl. 


Pith. 


Peth. 


Pebble. 


Pibble. 


Pot. 
Pour. 


Pyut. 
Power. 


Point. 
Prompt. 


Pwynt. 
Promp. 


Quiet. 
Quench. 


Qwate. 

Squinch. 


Rocket. 


Racket. 


Reason. 


Raisin. 


Reckon. 


Ricken. 


Restive. 

Rope. 

Rat. 


Restey. 

Rop. 

Rot. 


Rusty. 
Rubbish. 


Rowsty. 
Rubbidge. 


Roof. 


Ruff. 


Soft. 


Saft. 


Sigh. 
Sash. 


Sithe. 
Saish. 


Salad. 


Sallit. 


Scholar. 


Scullud. 


Scratch. 


Scrat. 


Sinews. 


Senness. 


Shafts. 


Shaives. 


Shop. 


Shap. 



402 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Short. 


Shart. 


Sheep. 


Ship. 


Shelf. 


Shilf. 


Slate. 


Slat. 


Salad. 


Sallet. 


Split. 


Spault. 


Spear. 


Spiry. 


Singe. 


Swinge. 


Suit (of clothes.) 


Shoot. 


Sheaf. 


Shuff. 


Shell. 


Shull. 


Shame. 


Shum. 


Shepherd. 


Shippud. 


Sheath. 


Shuth. 


Show. 


Shond. 


Swoon — Swooned. 


Swound — Swounded. * 


Such. 


Sitch. 


Seed. 


Sid. 


Sleep. 


Slep. 


Slab. 


Slob. 


Sniff. 


Snift. 


Sneeze. 


Sneedge. 


Spit. 


Spet. 


Squeal. 


Squale. 


Stand. 


Stond. 


Stem. 


Stom. 


Steam. 


Stem. 



* I swound to see thee, " Timon of Athens,'' IV. iii. 373. 

What, did Caesar swound? " Julius Caesar," I. ii. 253. 

How does the Queen? Shcswoundsto see them bleed," Ham- 
let," V. ii. 319. 

All in gore blood. I swounded at the sight, '* Romeo and 
Juliet," III. ii. 56. 

He swounded and fell down at it, " Julius Caesar," I. ii. 249. 



LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



403 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Stream. 


Strem. 


Strike. 


Strik. 


Straddle. 


Stroddle. 


Stone. 


Stun. 


Soot. 


Sut. 


Singe. 


Swinge. 


Sort. 


Swurt. 


Sparrow. 


Spug. 


Squeeze. 


Squoze. 


Strap. 


Stirrup. 


Talents. 


Talons. 


Thread. 


Thrid. 


Trust. 


Trusten. 


Thorn. 


Thurn. 


Turnips. 


Turnits. 


Trowel. 


Trewell. 


Vetches. 


Fatches. 


Value. 


Valley. 


Violets. 


Fillets. 


Violets. 


Firelights. 


Verjuice. 


Varges. 


Victuals. 


Fittles. 


Vermin. 


Varmant. 


Waistcoat. 


Wascut. 


Wash. 


Wesh. 


Week. 


Wick. 


With. 


Ooth. 


Will. 


Ool. 


Wooden. 


Ooden. 



404 LIST OF VERNACULAR WORDS. 



WORD 


PRONUNCIATION 


Worry. 

Yours. 
Yes. 

Yesterday. 
Yet. 


Werry. 

Yourn, 

Yus, or Iss, or I — i! 

Istady. 

It. 



PART III. 

HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS ENG- 
LISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 

From the foregoing it seems reasonable to 
conclude that Shakespeare, in his early years, 
spoke and heard spoken the Warwickshire dialect. 
What did he hear and speak in his first London 
life? 

Certainly a very varied speech, and a very varied 
pronunciation. A multiplicity of dialects from the 
interior shires, added to the commercial jargon of 
Frenchman, Spaniard, Dutchman, Italian, and Slav 
(for Shakespeare disguises his players as ''Russians " 
in ''Love's Labor's Lost," and so must either himself 
have met some of that nation, or believed that some 
of his audiences had). All this must have produced 
a rich and picturesque ensemble. Nor does it 
appear that the learned clerks, whom the very 
recent dissolution of the monasteries and religious 
houses had thrown on their wits for livelihood and 
who flocked to London (and from whom it has been 
conjectured that much of the lore and learning in 
the plays may have come), spoke a much purer 
speech than the rustics. Worst of all, one hundred 
times worse than to-day, was the mischievous H 
transposition, which had even penetrated written 

405 



4o6 HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 

speech to the jeopardizing of documentary evidence 
and of official records. It is undoubtedly to the 
omitting of the first and second H in Hathaway that 
we owe the necessity of going on to the end of wise 
discussions as to whether Shakespeare's wife was a 
Hathaway or a Whateley! (It led, as we have seen, 
to the transposition of that aspirate from the end 
to the beginning of the name of the Norse hero, 
Amleth, who thus became, as he will always remain, 
Hanilef). And H, as clipped off the end of a word — 
as in the name of the youngster Moth in ''Love's 
Labor's Lost," pronounced Mote, or even as elided 
in the middle of a word, as nothing, pronounced 
noting, and stranger than all, where it was intro- 
duced into the middle of a word, as suitor, pro- 
nounced shooter! — we have already considered! 

How did Shakespeare himself speak? Did London 
life remove the Warwickshire accent, as well as the 
Warwickshire dialect, from his diction? Old Dr. 
Johnson after forty-seven years of London resi- 
dence, though he wrote poems, tragedies, speeches 
for members of Parliament, essays, and everything 
else, including dictionaries, to his last day pro- 
nounced punch — pdd?itch, and great — greet,'^' as his 
tongue brought these words from Litchfield. And 
it were difficult to find a literary man in any age who 
mixed more with life and action, from lowliest to 
loftiest, than did Dr. Johnson. 

* 111 Bosw(»Fth's " Life " I find it noted that Dr. Young recom- 
mended that this pronunciation be given by the lexicographer in 
the dictionary, but that Lord Chesterfield desired it to be given 
(as it was given) as pronounced, grate. 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. A^l 

Mr. Richard Grant White, whose study of the 
subject in his '' Memorandums on EngUsh Pro- 
nunciation in the EHzabethan Era " forms an 
appendix to the concluding and twelfth volume 
of his earliest edition of the plays and poems,* 
remarks, " Some readers shrink from the con- 
clusion to which the foregoing memorandums lead, 
because of its strangeness: and, they will think, 
the uncouthness of the pronunciation which 
they will involve. They will imagine Hamlet 
exclaiming: 

" A baste that wants discoorse hof rayson 
Would 'aive moorn'd longer ! 
O, me prophetic sowl, me hooncle ! 
A broken vice and 'is 'ole foonction shooting 
Wit forms to 'is consayt; hand hall for noting. f " 

But, admitting all these, — which the following 
tabulation tends to prove, — it seems to me marvelous 
that there are so few — so very few — differences 
between the Shakespearean pronunciation and our 
own. 

Let us go at once to the plays, which Shakespeare 
framed in London, after his >tratford-on-Avon-War- 
wickshire dialect days were over, and when, as any 
newcomer to London would, he kept his ears open 
and attentive. In his thirty-four years of metro- 
politan life, he touched elbows with all its varied 
and panoramic life — with men of his own craft, men 

* Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1861. 

f " The H was probably more often dropped than at present," 
says Mr. White, and this is all he says as to the letter H. 



4^8 HO IV SHAKESPEARE HEARD H/S 

of the taverns, the theaters, the lawyers, physicians; 
with the " learned clerks " above mentioned from 
the dismantled monasteries, merchants, costers; 
with courtiers and, as is claimed, with the court and 
royalty itself! As these are all in the plays, Shakes- 
peare must have seen them all; and as they spoke 
in life, just so they speak in the plays; and, in some 
form at least, we hear this very speech, formal or 
familiar, stilted or convivial. And as it happens, 
these plays are loaded, loaded even to tediousness, 
with puns. On every occasion, from the most 
trivial to the most solemn, every character, from 
the oafs and the peasant in the greenwood to 
old Gaunt on his deathbed, is constantly employ- 
ing puns.* 

In the following table I have endeavored to 
include only such puns as touch upon the Shakes- 
pearean pronunciation of vowels, aspirates, or 
vowel sounds, or consonants, which differ from 
our present pronunciation. Puns v/hich preserve 
customs, or add to our information as to the charac- 
ters or to our knowledge of the comparative chro- 
nology, or are brilliant in repartee, are valuable for 
those purposes and should be catalogued by all 
means. (And I hope somebody will yet find leisure 
to catalogue them. It would be, in my opinion, a 

* Mr. Ellis thinks, however, that there are no puns in " Antony 
and Cleopatra." The most familiar thing in the plays is given 
no name in them. The pun, so exuberantly used, often to 
tediousness, is never called a pun. There are "quips," 
"snatches," "double meanings," " equivocations," "crochets," 
"jests," "conceits," "quillets," but no puns, so named in the 
text. 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 409 

much more beneficial method of studying the plays 
than the methods now so frequently recommended 
to Shakespeare classes and clubs.) Neither have I 
included puns which are founded on our present 
idem sonans (and these are, after all, by far the 
largest in number and so as perfect to our ears as if 
made to-day), such as /, eye^ aye; ear, eer; too, to 
two; done, dun; sun, son; so, sew; soul, sole; neer, 
near; pray, prey; main, mairie; waist, waste; tale, 
tail;, all, awl; bass (in music), base; you, U, eive 
(which excuses us from cataloguing the tedious 
pun in ten lines, '■'■ Love's Labor's Lost," V. i. 41-51); 
knight, night; presents, presence; dear, deer; guilt, 
gilt; council, counsel; tide, tied; fo7vl, foul; dam, 
damn; medlar, meddler; capital, capital; heart, hart; 
upon all of which, as upon hundreds of others, the 
plays are incessantly punning. Nor yet have I 
included those made upon mispronunciation of 
foreign proper names, such as Seville, civil; Pucelle 
(the maid of Orleans), pronounced in so many ways 
by Henry the Sixth's soldiers that Talbot exclaims 
*' Puzzel or Pussel, Dolphin [Dauphin) or Dog- 
fish. Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horses' 
heels! " and the like, which are very numerous. 
Where, however, the pun on the mispronunciation 
describes itself, as where the foreigner pronounces 
well, veel, and Katherine says, " veal, quoth the 
Dutchman, is not veal a calf.^ " it is a useful testi- 
mony at least, as to the pronunciation of veal being 
the same in Shakespeare's day as in ours. Such puns 
as these are, of course, useful. Mr. Alexander J. Ellis 
(whose monumental work, in four stout volumes, on 
early English pronunciation, with special reference to 



4lo HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 

Shakespeare and Chaucer, published in 187 1 by the 
Early English Text Society, cannot be overlooked by 
any student of the subject) says he does not think we 
learn much from Shakespeare's puns. This is of 
course said from his standpoint of years of pro- 
found study of thousands of authorities. But for 
the casual reader, who desires a passing familiarity 
with the matter, the puns, in my opinion, are very 
helpful indeed. Of course there are other methods of 
determining the Shakespearean pronunciation from 
the internal evidence of the plays, such as the 
rhymes, the rhythms, and the stress, but these are 
exhaustively treated in the works of Ellis and 
Guest, and nothing can be added to these two 
authorities. Of the Elizabethan license in rhymes, 
too, Shakespeare took most liberal advantage 
everywhere. 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 411 



WORD. 



Art. 



Ass. 



Bairns. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Heart. 



Ace. 



Barns. 



PUN. 



I read that I profess the 
art to love. And may 
you prove, sir, master of 
your art. When you, 
sweet dear, prove mis- 
tress of my heart. — 
" Taming of the Shrew," 
IV. ii. 8. 

The antithesis being, of 
course, master of my art 
with mistress of my 'art. 

Now die, die, die, die, die. 
No die but an ace. Less 
than an ace, man ; for he 
is dead — he is nothing. 
With the help of a sur- 
geon he might recover 
and prove an ace. — 
'' Midsummer Night's 
Dream," V. i. 310. 

Then if your husband have 
stables enough, you'll see 
he shall lack no bairns. 
— "Much Ado about 
Nothing," III. iv. 21. 

(However, this may be 
cloudy — as the first folio 
has barnes and the sec- 
ond bearnes, which leaves 
us in doubt whether it be 
the proper orthography 
or only a typographical 



412 



HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 


PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 


PUN. 






error — and if so, which 
is typographical error, 
and which correct?) 


Beat. 


Bait. 


A callant of boundless 
tongue, who late hath 
beat her husband and 
now bates me. — ''Win- 
ter's Tale," I. ii. 32. 


Choler. 


Collar. 


An we be in choler we'll 
draw. Ay, while you 
live draw your neck out 
of the collar. — ''Romeo 
and Juliet," I. i. 4. 


Cinque. 


Sink. 


Falls into the cinque pace 
faster and faster until he 
sinks into his grave. — 
" Much Ado about Noth- 
ing," II. i. 82. 


Consort. 


Concert. 


Mercutio, thou consort'st 
with Romeo. Consort? 
What, doth thou make 
us minstrels? — " Romeo 
and Juliet," III. i. 
49. 


Court. 


Cart. 


Leave shall you have to 
court her at your pleas- 
ure, to cart her rather. — 
" Taming of the Shrew," 

I- i. 55. 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^3 



WORD. 


PRONUNCIA- 
TION, 


PUN, 


Dolour. 


Dollar. 


Comes to the entertainer — 
a dollar. Dolour comes 
to him indeed. — "Tem- 
pest," II. i. 19. 

Three thousand dolours a 
year! Aye and more. — 
" Measure for Measure," 
I. ii. so. 

Thou shalt have as many 
dolours for thy daughters 
as thou canst tell in a 
year. — " King Lear," II. 
iv. 54. 


Doubt. 


Debt (det). 


As to speak doubt fine. 
When he should pro- 
nounce debt d-e-bt, not 
d-e-t. — '' Love's Labor's 
Lost," V. i. 27. 

Not a pun, but direct evi- 
dence. 


Enfran- 


One 




chise. 


Francis. 


Enfranchise thee. O marry 
me to one Frances. — 
'^ Love's Labor's Lost," 
in. i. 121. 

(Perhaps not a pun from 
which much can be 
learned — the dialogue 
being between Armado, 
a foreigner, and Costard, 
a clown.) 


Fair. 


Fear. 


Having no fair to lose, 



414 



HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Full 



Goths. 



Fool. 



Goats. 



PUN. 



you need not fear. — 
''Venus and Adonis," 
1083. 

The equivalent in War- 
wickshire dialect to this 
would be " Having no 
wench to miss,' don't 
pheeze yourself " (or, 
perhaps, Don't mum- 
mocks yourself). If the 
sentence, however, should 
be spoken in Warwick- 
shire speech, it would be 
pronounced, '' Having no 
feere to lose, you need 
notfaire. " So this would 
appear to be valuable as 
suggesting a non-War- 
wickshire authorship of 
the poem, since the pun 
would have been impossi- 
ble both derivatively 
and phonetically in that 
dialect. 

Why, thou full dish of fool, 
from Troy! — ''Troilus 
and Cressida," V. i. 10. 

I am a fool, and full of 
poverty. — ''Love's La- 
bor's Lost," V. ii. 380. 

I am here with thee and 
thy goats, as the most 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^5 



WORD. 



Gravity. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Grave-ity. 



Holiday. 



Hair 
Heir 



Holy day 



Here (that 
is, 'Ere). 



PUN. 



capricious poet, Ovid, 
was among the Goths! — 
"As You Like It," III. 
iii. 7 (see Mote, post). 

There is not a white hair 
on your head but should 
have its effect of gravity. 
(Falstaff loq.) Gravy, 
gravy, gravy. — " 2 Hen- 
ry IV.," I. ii. 183. 

Shall never see it but a 
holiday. — A wicked day, 
and not a holy-day. — 
''King John," III. i. 82. 

Where France? In her 
forehead armed and re- 
verted, making war a- 
gainst her heir. — ''Com- 
edy of Errors," III. ii. 
127. 

The pun is on the word 
hair. Dromio is describ- 
ing a downward growth 
of hair on his mistress's 
forehead. He has made 
his description tally with 
a map of the world. The 
allusion is to the civil 
war raging in France, 
originating about the 



4i6 



HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Him. 



Jupiter, 



Hem. 



Gibbet-er. 



PUN. 



year 1584-89, when 
France was fighting over 
the sucessorship of 
Henry IV. He touches 
his own forehead as if to 
say "Here." (See In- 
troduction to the Bank- 
side Supplement Shakes- 
peare, vol. xxii. p. vii.) 
Probably a variety of the 
second H displacement 
elsewhere noted. 

Well, you have heard, but 
something hard of hear- 
ing. — "Taming of the 

1 Shrew," II. i. 184. 

We have the same pronun- 
ciation left now in the 
words "heart, hearken, 
searge, clerk (dark), ser- 
geant (sargent), bread, 
sheard." Beard was 
probably also pro- 
nounced bard in Shakes- 
peare's time. 

Celia. Hem them away. 

Ros. I would try if I 
could cry hem and have 
him. — " As You Like It," 
I. iii. 19. 

Shall I have justice — what 
says Jupiter — O the gib- 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^7 



WORD. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Laced. 



Lief. 



Lover. 



Luce. 



Lost. 



Live. 



Lubber. 



Louse. 



PUN. 



bet-maker! — ** Titus An- 
dronicus," IV. iii. 79. 
(At least this passage is 
hard to understand, from 
its context, except as a 
pun.) 

I, a lost mutton, gave your 
letter to her, a laced 
mutton; and she, a laced 
mutton, gave me, a lost 
mutton, nothing for my 
pains. — "Two Gentle- 
men of Verona," I 



1. 



102. 



I had as lief not be as 
live to be in awe of such 
a thing as myself. — "Ju- 
lius Caesar," L ii. 95. 

My master is become a 
notable lover? I never 
knew him otherwise. 
Than how? A notable 
lubber.—" Two Gentle- 
men of Verona," II. v. 

47- 

May give the dozen white 
luces in their coat. It is 
an old coat. The dozen 
white louses do become 
an old coat well. It 



4i8 



HO IV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



Mary. 



Married. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Marry (pro- 
nounced 
Mahry). 



Marred. 
(Mard). 



PUN. 



agrees well, passant. It 
is a familiar beast to 
man. — '* Merry Wives of 
Windsor," I. i. i6. 
(But otherwise, perhaps, 
if Shakespeare v/as only 
lampooning his old en- 
emy, the Sir Thomas 
Lucy, of his youth, of 
whom he is alleged to 
have written the bal- 
lad: 
**If Lucy be Lowsie, as 

some volk miscall it, 
Then sing Lowsie Lucy 

whatever befall it.") 

The constant ejaculation 
spelled "marry" is, of 
course, a sort of oath, 
using the name of the 
Virgin, but the pro- 
nunciation is shown in 
the puns: 

A young man married 
is a man that's marred. 
—"All's Well that Ends 

Well," II. Hi. 315. 
May I quarter, coz? 
You may, by marring. It 
is marrying, indeed, if 
he quarter it. — "Merry 
Wives of Windsor," I. i. 
24. 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 4^9 



WORD. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Moor. 



Moth. 



Muddy. 



More. 



Mote. 



PUN. 



What mar 
Marry, sir. 
ing to mar 
God made.- 
Like It," II. 



you then ? 
I am help- 
that which 
-*'As You 
iii. 109. 



It is much that the Moor 
should be more than 
reason. — ''Merchant of 
Venice," III. v. 44. 



You found his moth, the 
King your moth did see. 
— "Love's Labor's Lost," 
IV. iii. 161. (This ex- 
plains Arthur's speech. 
—"King John," IV. i.). 
O heaven were there but 
a moth in yours (in the 
First Folio). So in Wyc- 
clif's Bible (Matthew 
vi: "Were rust and 
mouthe destroyeth." A 
mothe or motte that 
eateth clothes (Withal's 
"Short Dictionary for 
Young Beginners," 1568). 
They are in the air like 
atomi in sole, mothes in 
clothes (Lodge's "Wit's 
Miserie "). 



Moody. 1 1 am now, sir, muddied in 



420 



HOH^ SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



Nay, 
neigh, 
neighbor. 



Nothing. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Knee, 
nebour. 



Note-ing. 



PUN. 



Fortune's mood. — "All's 
Well that Ends Well," 
I. ii. 4. 
(Or possibly these should 
be reversed, and moody 
pronounced muddy. Mr. 
A. J. Ellis and Mr. R. 
Grant White appear to 
differ here sometimes. 
But if punch v/as pro- 
nounced poontch down to 
Dr. Johnson's date, the 
above appears to stand 
as it should.) 



Neighbour vocatur nebour, 
neigh abbreviated 7ie. — 
''Love's Labor's Lost," 
V. i. 26. 



Note this before my notes. 
Why, these are very cro- 
chets that he speaks. 
Notes, notes, forsooth, 
and nothing. — " Much 
Ado about Nothing," IL 
iii. 60. 

Mr. White thinks that per- 
haps the title of this 
play is itself a pun — 
'' Much Ado about Noth- 
ing "—and remarks, in 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 421 



WORD. 



Parson, 

Person, 
Purse. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Pierce-on, 
Pierce. 



Raisin. 



Reason 
(reezin). 



PUN, 



favor of this idea, that 
the business of the play 
is mostly eavesdropping 
or noting. 

No pun occurs in the plays 
to indicate this pronun- 
ciation exactly, but we 
infer it from the word- 
play, "Love's Labor's 
Lost," IV. i. 85: *'God 
give you good morrow, 
master Parson. — Master 
Parson, quasi person. 
And if one should be 
pierced, which is the 
one?" The e is used in 
the First Folio always 
for a in the word then — 
meaning than. (I have 
thought, perhaps, be- 
cause the compositors of 
that date in London were 
Germans.) But here the 
e is not used for a. The 
proper name Pierce is 
pronounced almost in- 
variably Purse in the 
New England States of 
America. 

If reasons were as plenty 
as blackberries, I would 
give no man a reason on 



422 



HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



Rome. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Room. 



PUN. 



compulsion. — " i Henry 
IV.," II. ii. 264. 

O lawful let it be 

That I have room with 
Rome to curse awhile. 
—"King John," III. i. 
180. 
Now it is Rome indeed and 
room enough. — "Julius 
Caesar," I. ii. 155. 
So fares it with this faultful 
lord of Rome, 
For now against him- 
self he sounds this 
doom. 
— "Rape of Lucrece," 
line 715. 
And never be forgot in 
mighty Rome 
The adulterate death of 
Lucrece and her 
groom. 

— Id.^ line 1645. 
(So confident are scholars 
of this pronunciation that 
Dyce says that one of 
the proofs that Shakes- 
peare did not write the 
Third Part of "King 
Henry VI." is that its au- 
thor pronounced Rome, 
Rome: that is, as we do 
now.) 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 42. 



WORD. 



PRONUNCIA- 

TION. 



Salad. 



Sallet. 



Sheep. 



Ship. 



PUN. 



Bishop of Winchester. Rome 
shall remedy this. 
Warwick. Roam thither, 

then. 
— '^i Henry VI.," III. 
i. 52. 
(And see ante, Fair, in this 
table.) 

Many a time, but for a 
sallet, my brain-pan had 
been cleft with a brown 
bill . . . and now the 
word *' sallet" must 
serve me to feed on. — 
''2 Henry VI.," IV. x. 
12. 

(Cade's pun is in his own 
mispronunciation of sal- 
ad, to resemble the word 
sallet — a headpiece of 
armor.) 

Two hot sheeps marry 
And wherefore not ships. 
No sheep, sweet lamb, 
unless we feed on your 
lips. 
— "Love's Labor's Lost," 
II. i. 220. 
(A Somersetshire farmer 
once asked me if I had 
seen some sheep at the 



424 



HO IV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



Stoic. 

Suit. 
Suitor. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Stock. 

Shoot. 
Shooter. 



PUN. 



fair, but I understood 
him to speak of a ship 
on fire. — Ellis.) 

Let's be no stoicks nor no 
stocks, I pray. — "Tam- 
ing of the Shrew," I. i. 31. 

(See note following.) 

This pronunciation, which 
provokes the word-play 
and equivoque in 
" Love's Labor's Lost," 
IV, i. 117, et seq.j was 
very old English speech, 
as this play, written 
prior to 1598, abundant- 
ly proves. Mr. Aldis 
Wright suggests that the 
compositors might have 
had that pronunciation, 
and so, in the Quarto i of 
'' Lear," set up the word 
three-suited, three shew- 
ted, except in Quarto 2, 
where it is spelled three- 
snyted, evidently mis- 
printed for three-suyted. 
But Mr. A. A. Adee, 
who finds that the "Lear" 
compositors were from 
Germany, would not a- 
gree to this. — The Bank- 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 425 



WORD. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



PUN. 



side Shakespeare, vol. x., 
Introduction. Perhaps 
this is the reason that in 
the First Folio we have 
constantly whan for 
when, than for then, then 
for than, which do not 
indicate pronunciation at 
all. More likely the 
writer wrote sheivted 
when he meant to write 
sew ted, which, with the 
optional orthography of 
the date, would have 
been a proper spelling of 
suited. In the " Chroni- 
cle History of Henry V." 
(see Bankside Shakes- 
peare, where that old 
play is reprinted verb. lit. 
et piifict.), side is printed 
shout. However, we have 
ample evidence that 
suitor was pronounced 
shooter, and that all 
sorts of equivoque, coarse 
and otherwise, were made 
on that circumstance, 
e. g., '* There was a lady 
in Spaine, who after the 
decease of her father 
had three sutors; and 
yet neere a good Archer. " 
— Lily's ** Euphues and 



426 



HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 



WORD. 



Title. 



Withe. 



PRONUNCIA- 
TION. 



Tittle. 



With. 



PUN. 



His England," 1580, Ar- 
ber Reprint, p. 293. The 
pronunciation of the 
word picture as pickter, 
was occasion for many- 
puns of the day, as pict- 
u re = picked-her, etc. 
Mr. Ellis mentions an 
old black-letter treatise 
on pronunciation, in 
which the pronouncing 
of ci as ash : as fashio 
for facio^ is reprobated. 

What shall thou exchange 
for rags? Robes. For 
titles, tittles. — ** Love's 
Labor's Lost," IV. i. '^d. 

(Doubtful, as this may be 
merely alliteration.) 

O well knit Samson, strong 
jointed Samson. . . 

Who was Samson's love, 
my dear Moth? 

A woman, master. 

Green indeed is the color 
of love, but to have a 
love of that color, me- 
thinks Sampson had 
small reason for it. . . 
He surely affected her 
for her wit. 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 427 



WORD. 



Wode. 



PUN. 



It was so, sir, for she 
had a green wit. — 
"Love's Labor's Lost," 

I. ii. 88. 

The allusion is said to be 
to the green withe with 
which Delilah bound 
Samson. (Though there 
is no mention of green 
withes in Judges xvi., 
probably some certain 
version of the Scrip- 
ture story is referred 
to.) See supra, where it 
is noted that moth was 
pronounced mote. See 
also the word noting 
in this table. 

And here am I, and wode 
within this wood. — ''Mid- 
summer Night's Dream," 

II. i. 192. 



428 HOfV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 

But the most curious testimony we have to the 
peculiarities (to us) of the London pronunciation of 
Shakespeare's time is in the first scene of the fifth 
act of the *' Love's Labor's Lost." 

My own explanation of that curious scene is as 
follows: 

It seems to have been established that Shakes- 
peare's first literary work in London was in con- 
nection with the various companies of players 
(which, in order to evade the well-known law that 
made strolling players, " like tinkers, rogues by 
statute " took the name of some nobleman in favor 
at court), and was in remodeling old ''Histories." 
Meanwhile, on his own account, the young man 
had tried his hand at an original play. This play 
was the " Love's Labor's Lost." This play appears 
to have been read to the company, and the company 
determined to play it. Moreover, it seems to have 
been so highly esteemed by them that, when — as it 
was the custom of the court to hear a play per- 
formed at holiday time by one or another favored 
company of players — they were summoned to pre- 
pare a piece to act before the Queen at the 
Christmas festivities of 1598, they sent the manu- 
script of this play to the Lord Chamberlain, as the 
one which, if the Lord Chamberlain approved, 
they thought would be acceptable to her Majesty. 

It was, of course, imperative to submit the pro- 
posed play to the Lord Chamberlain for his exami- 
nation lest there should be (as the King asks 
Hamlet, before he allows the Interlude in that 
play to be begun) "any offense in it." It seems 
that the Lord Chamberlain found none, and the 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 429 

manuscript of the play was returned and the com- 
pany (I suppose it was ''Lord Strange's Company ") 
was ordered to prepare to perform it. We know 
that it was customary that the play so selected 
should be revised especially for this royal repre- 
sentation, nor was it unusual for the Lord Cham- 
berlain in returning the MS. to make suggestions, 
which of course would have the weight of royal 
commands, which would require such a revision. 
In any event, the author would zealously revise 
his MS. for the great event. This is how it hap- 
pens that the play, which was the first of Shakes- 
peare's plays ever printed, or at least the first one 
which ever bore his name on its title-page, was 
announced on its title-page as, ^^ A pleasant conceited 
comedie called Love's Labor's Lost. As it was 
presented before Her Highness this last Christmas. 
Neivly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere. 
{^Imprinted at London by IV. fV. for Cuthbert Burby^ 

1598)'' 

The play, perhaps, did not include this first scene 
of the fifth act. At any rate, if it were not sug- 
gested by the fact of its selection, it would have 
been very appropriate. For the scheme of the 
titled lords and ladies, with a king and a princess at 
their head, after flirting themselves out in pastoral, 
proposing that the clowns and villagers, with the 
parish priest and schoolmaster at their head, get up 
a play for their amusement, which by the villagers 
was to be taken seriously, but to the courtly audi- 
ence was to afford full opportunity for gibe and ridi- 
cule, was apropos of the occasion of the royal 
summons. And I think that Shakespeare, who had 



430 ^OIV SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 

kept his ears and eyes wide open in London, had 
determined to introduce an innovation, viz. : a 
pleasant hit or two at the conceits of better men 
than he represented Holofernes, Dull, and Sir 
Nathaniel, and Armado and the rest, to be. 

Accordingly, he keeps the more important and 
imposing of the villagers at airing the scraps of 
learning they had picked up. They quiz each other 
on pronunciations; Holofernes says that Armado 
speaks: 

*' Dout, fine, when he should say doubt j det when 
he should pronounce debt, d-e-b-t not d-e-t ; he 
clepeth a calf, caiilfj neighbour vocatur neboiir; 
neigh abbreviateth ne. This is abhominable which 
he would call abbominable " 

And so on plentifully. 

Much of the pedantry and punning in this 
scene loses its force by sheer exuberance; and by 
becoming tedious is overlooked by those of us who 
are interested in Shakespearean speech. Little 
Mote (spelled Moth) is especially a nuisance as he 
breaks in here to air his knowledge of the mean- 
ing of the words cuckold {y^\\h. the old joke about 
the horns lugged in), and wittold^ which means not 
only a cuckold, but a cuckold who is a inari com- 
plaisant — the bitterest insult, it would seem, which 
one man in Elizabethan days could fling at 
another. A child of Moth's age ought to know 
nothing of these things, and he does not seem to be 
justified in the allusion, either. For, if there is a 
cuckold in the play, it is Costard, not Armado, 
whom Moth is at that moment guying with the 
word. However, let us see if we can extract some 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 431 

meaning from the passage between Holofernes, 
Armado, and Moth. 

While Holofernes, the schoolmaster, and "Sir" 
Nathaniel, the village priest (these village priests 
were called Sir by courtesy, a poor and despised 
lot, a sort of chartered beggars), are flinging 
scraps of Latin at each other, enter Armado, 
Moth, and Costard. They overhear the solemnly 
ridiculous dialogue, and Moth remarks, sotto 
voce, to Costard, whom he loves (as he knows 
that both are rivals for the attentions of Jaque- 
netta) to set up against Armado, — making him 
guy the Spaniard unconsciously, and enjoying the 
fun, — ''They have been at a great feast of lan- 
guages and have stolen the scraps." And then 
Costard says to Moth, ''I wonder thy master 
hath not eaten thee for a word," and then, to 
air his own scraps, he repeats the long Latin 
word (since Rabelais a familiar schoolboy catch), 
honorificabilitudinitatibus. There is something 
appropriate and not far-fetched in Costard's intro- 
ducing this long word. As who would say, ''You 
are such Priscians in pronunciation — pronounce 
this!" 

But Armado stalks up, and Moth catches Costard 
by the sleeve and whispers, "Peace! the peal be- 
gins," that is, "Keep quiet and let us see the fun." 

" j\Ionsieur, are you not lettered? " says Armado 
to Holofernes; but, before Holofernes can find 
a reply, Moth, himself, who has just told Costard 
to be quiet, breaks in himself with, " Yes, he [Holo- 
fernes] teaches boys the hornbook." Now the 
hornbook (that is, a piece of horn in a rude frame 



432 HOW SHAKESPEARE HEARD HIS 

with a handle on which was written the alphabet in 
capitals, the alphabet again in small letters, the 
nine digits and a few hyphenated words) was always 
used in village schools. And the word horn (sug- 
gesting the relations as to Jaquenetta, which 
Armado and Costard had unknowingly to each 
other, but which Moth had guessed, assumed) gives 
Moth his opportunity to air- his unsavory adult 
knowledge of the covert meaning of the word 
"horns." All have forgotten, if they had ever no- 
ticed. Costard's attempt at joining in the pedantry 
by pronouncing the long Latin word. Moth now 
begins to cross-question the schoolmaster. " What 
is b-a spelt backwards?" ** It is ba,'' says Holo- 
fernes, and this, to the quick-witted Moth, sug- 
gests a sheep. Moth then tries him on the five 
vowels, but he cannot do this without the inevi- 
table pun. He adds: the third of the five vowels 
(which is I) is I, the speaker, the personal pro- 
noun, when he, Moth, the speaker, speaks of himself, 
but if you (Holofernes) are alluded to, it is U, and 
therefore not the third vowel, but the fifth. And 
so on laboriously, ad nauseam. The next pun is 
so circumferent and involved, even for those days, 
that it is tiresome to trace it. But it must be, I 
suppose, disposed of. 

When Holofernes stated that the first two letters 
of the hornbook, a-b, spelt ba backwards, ba sug- 
gested to Moth the animal which utters that sound, 
viz., a sheep — only the male sheep has horns. But 
this was excuse enough for Moth to work in his 
joke again about a cuckold and horns on Costard 
or Armado, or both, and in it goes. The rest of 



ENGLISH PRONOUNCED IN LONDON. 433 

the pun is un the third vowel U, that '\^ you or — in 
allusion to the sheep again — eive. 

The examination has been tiresome. But as 
divers occult readings of this encounter between 
Moth and the schoolmaster have been labored out, 
it may as well be simply disposed of. Tiresome as 
it has been, the above appears to be the simplest 
explanation possible, and the rules of evidence 
require that the simplest explanations shall be 
exhausted first. 



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